Liz Kentish Coaching

Are you and your manager on the same page?

2012-01-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

Managing our time can be difficult if we are not entirely sure of our priorities. Here's a quick activity that may throw up some surprising (and thought-provoking) results.

List the major areas of your job responsibilities (the ten most important tasks)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Now predict how many of those ten tasks or areas your manager would list if he or she were asked to do so.

Is there a difference between what you listed and you think your manager would list?

Why do you think that is?

Before your next one to one session with your line manager, ask them to complete the list too, with what they believe are the ten major areas of your role. You can then discuss this exercise together and see where your areas of difference are, and agree a plan to adjust priorities so you are both working to the same agenda.

Liz Kentish The FM Coach runs a one-day programme on Making Effective Use of Your Time. To find out more, please get in touch coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call us on 01778 561326

Please - don’t judge me

2011-12-07T04:25:00.000-08:00

I’ve been working with a client recently who, as part of our coaching, decided to undertake both 360˚ feedback with colleagues, as well as using our own ‘personal asset register’ – (check out our e-book The Hunt is On for more details)

What has been really interesting, is how quick people are to judge – we read the word ‘workaholic’ a few times, and work-life balance was also mentioned quite often. Rather than simply jumping to the conclusion that my client needs to have a better balance, we didn’t take these comments at face value, but instead looked deeper, to check whether their current ‘balance’ and workload is in fact in line with their personal values. And guess what? With a few little tweaks, their current workload is manageable, in fact it’s fun! This individual is driven by pressure, deadlines, and success.

So, the message is, beware of judging others by your own values – it may just be that they are different!

Have you come across something similar? Let us know - email Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call us on 01778 561326

Real life examples of great facilities management

2011-11-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

I’ve been fortunate this week to come across some fantastic examples of service delivery and client relationships by FM service providers this week, which I’d like to share with you.

A prospective client was running later for a bid presentation, and had inadvertently left his case (with laptop) on his train as he rushed to Paddington for the meeting. As you can imagine, as soon as he realised, he began to panic. The CEO from the service provider heard what was going on and got straight onto his helpdesk, asking them to send someone to Paddington. Within an hour or so the helpdesk team member knocked at the door of the meeting room and reunited case and owner. Talk about demonstrating how FM solves problems! As an aside, it turns out the individual from the helpdesk had had to pay £20 to retrieve the case, which he duly paid. But rather than ask the owner, in front of a room full of the bid team, he waited till later on and quietly had a word with the CEO, who reimbursed him. That’s true customer service! (aAnd yes, the prospective client awarded them the contract!)

The second example comes from a PFI school, where one student was shouting at a member of the FM team ‘..and anyway, you’re only the caretaker!’ This was overhead by the FM and the Head teacher, who were on a site walkabout at the time. The Head called the student over and asked him, ‘Who is the most important person in this school?’. ‘You, Sir’, came the response. ‘No’, said the Head, and asked the question again. Eventually the Head pointed out that the caretaker was in fact the most important person – he was up at 5 o’clock every morning, opened the school and the gates, turned on the lights and heating, prepared the rooms and so on. The student went away, tail between his legs, having learned that everyone has a role to play. What makes the story so special is that the client, in this case the Head, understood the importance and value of FM and was prepared to ensure everyone else did too.

Do you have stories to share? Please get in touch with Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call us on 01778 561326

Stress? What stress?

2011-11-04T05:40:00.000-07:00

I attended a great event this week – were you aware it was Stress Awareness Day? The event was run in conjunction with the Stress Management Society (www.stress.org.uk), and here is a snapshot of the key learning points.

What is stress? Have you found that we tend to relate stress to our emotions, and how it makes us feel? In fact, stress is actually a physical thing – it gets our heart beating faster, makes us sweat, heats our bodies up and so on.

We all know the ‘fight or flight’ scenario, and how our ancestors developed this response to enable their survival. It seems that these days, when we’re not often faced with man-eating animals, we’re getting stressed (ready to fight or flee) in situations where we can’t effectively use that response. This means that stress becomes counter-productive, and in these situations we need to find ways to either ‘lighten the load’ or give more support (coping strategies).

From a facilities management point of view, we’re particularly interested in risk management, because our organisations can be liable for putting increasing pressure onto individuals and teams. We should also be looking at how our workplaces can be more effective if we teach people how to cope with pressure. Dame Carol Black suggested that every £1 invested in wellbeing brings a return in productivity terms of between £3 and £6.

One of the main messages from the experts is that we shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help. And, to use my own favourite saying, one I use often with my coaching clients:
‘Fit your own mask first before helping others’.

If you’d like to talk about how coaching can help your own work-life balance or stress management, please get in touch with Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk 07717 787077

Coaching Tools - Part Three - Effective Listening Skills

2011-10-08T03:19:00.000-07:00

The ability to listen, not just hear but listen and absorb what is being said is one of the most important skills a coach can master. We are not natural listeners, during a conversation most people are already working out what they are going to say in response; they’re not really listening, they are just hearing.

As a coach it is vital not to go into a session with your own issues that you are trying to deal with. These need to be left outside or you will not be effective.

Prepare yourself. Employ a technique that works for you to clear your mind, a quiet walk, a few minutes of silent meditation, whatever it takes to concentrate your focus on your client. They need to know that you are truly listening to them. It may be that for the first time in their lives someone actually cares enough to let them express their thoughts.

During a coaching session you may find some of your client’s beliefs challenging to your own and it’s a mistake to try to influence these beliefs and aim to align them more with your own by asking questions or guiding your client to an area which sits more comfortably with your own view of the world. Your own beliefs and views are not relevant when it comes to coaching your client even if you recognise what they are describing and can relate to the situation. If you do this then you will almost certainly have closed your mind to what is being said because you are sure you know the outcome based on your own circumstances. The truth however is that everyone sees the same situation differently. By thinking that you know the answer you are not listening to what is being said.

There are three levels of listening.

Level one, is internal listening. This is listening in an everyday situation and it focuses on you rather than the other person. It’s how you interpret a conversation and it’s meaning to you and would be relevant to organising the next appointment with your client or how much your shopping comes to in the supermarket. Getting information on all manner of things that relate to you. This is not the main level you would use for a coaching session.

Level two is where the focus is on the speaker. This is why at the start of the session you need to clear your own mind, so that you can fully engage with your client. It’s not just the words they say, but importantly how they are said. Is there an energy to the words or is it slow and unemotional? What is their body language telling you as they speak, is that telling a different story to the words? What can you learn from the pauses and how are they responding to your questions and clarification of what they have said?

Being aware of all these nuances will help you to gain a viewpoint to the way your client is responding and for the client to feel valued and understood.

Level two listening is all about the speaker, and this is the zone that a coach needs to be in for a successful session.

Level three listening can be termed as holistic listening. Again the focus is on the speaker, however as a coach you are taking in the big picture. The what’s not said, it is intuitive listening. Using your senses to discern what is happening in the world around your client. Picking up on signals that you neither see or hear, but you can feel! It's not widely used, but being aware of it and gaining experience through it’s use, can be a valuable asset.

For a coaching session level two listening would be the main level ensuring that level three listening is used also. Level one is useful at the start and finish of each session to clarify detail and actions.

A coach will respect what the client is saying because it is important to them that you are genuinely interested. By showing empathy not sympathy, the client understands that you understand and that they know you care, the conversation will not be superficial and they will open up to allow positive progress. Understand and appreciate their world, but do not enter it!

Clarifying what is being said, through questioning to find out what the client wants to achieve. They may not know this themselves at the beginning but getting them to clarify their thoughts helps the speaker to define their direction and ultimately their goals.

Articulating back to the client what they have shared helps them to understand what it is they have actually said and whether there is something that they have been unwilling to face in the past.
Reflecting on what’s been said allows both coach and client to understand and agree a way forward.

Make sure that you know where you are in relation to the client’s goal. If you feel that you are going off in the wrong direction, then find the right moment to ask a question such as “where are we in relation to your goal?”

Be aware of silences, these should be natural and a time to reflect on what’s just been said. If the client pauses don’t jump in with a question or observation, they may only have paused to bring something else to the surface and you have just interrupted their train of thought. Remember the three second rule!

Listening is a key skill to having a successful coaching outcome. The client must feel that you care and that they are important and very rarely will anyone genuinely listen as attentively to what really matters to them as their coach does.

Time to get your own coach or brush up your own coaching skills? Contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call us on 01778 561326 - 07717 787077

Inspiration from Rocky Balboa

2011-09-11T04:57:00.000-07:00

Last week I was reminded of this scene from Rocky, and I wanted to share it with you. It might just give you a little inspiration when you need it most.

But somewhere along the line you changed. You stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you're no good, and when things got hard you started looking for somethin' to blame, like a big shadow.

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows, it's a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.

You, me, nobody is gonna hit as hard as life! But it ain't about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep movin' forward, how much you can take...and keep movin' forward. That's how winning is done!

Now, if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth! But you gotta be willing to take the hits and not pointin' fingers sayin' you ain’t where you wanna be because of him or her or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that!

...But until you start believing in yourself, you ain't gonna have a life.

Coaching Tools - Part Two -What type of questions to ask and why

2011-08-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

If you want to find out something, ask a question. Children do it instinctively and they will keep asking, digging and digging until they get an answer that satisfies them.

As a coach, questions, or rather the right questions at the right time are as powerful a tool as listening. Listening well allows you to understand what is or is not being said, which means that you can ask the right question to dig deeper into your client’s issues to bring to the surface the answers that will ultimately help them to overcome their barriers to success.

There are many types of questions. Here are three of them.

1. Reflective questions

A reflective question is where the coach asks the client to “reflect” on their own experiences, skills, knowledge, subjects that they have an awareness of. This invites the client to be truly expressive and open in their answer; it is their answer, not something that has been fed to them in the way a leading question would do, where the question contains the answer or presumes to contain the answer.

An example of a leading question would be a salesman talking to a customer and saying, “I can see you agree that this product works really well, it’s in the right colour and it’s something that you would like to own, isn’t it? This leads the client to answer the way that the questioner wants.

This is not what a good coach would do. They would ask a reflective question, such as: “When you scored your goal in last weeks match, how did it make you feel?”

“When you go home at night to an empty house what is it that allows you to relax?”

“You started to tell me about the bullying at your school, what did you do differently to avoid it?”

These types of questions allow the client to fully explore their knowledge of a situation and to give voice to the emotions they felt at that particular time and how they dealt with it, or not, which will allow the coach to ask other questions to let the client find alternative ways to move forward towards their goal.

2. Incisive questions

An incisive question can interrupt and destabilise a limiting belief that the client has. Your client wants to gain two A levels, history and geography to get accepted onto a course that would lead them towards the career that they are passionate about, they however have a limiting belief that because no-one in their family has ever achieved academic success, they won’t either. So to get them to put their limiting belief to one side for a moment the question to put to them could be: “Imagine that when you take your A levels you know that you would pass, and having succeeded in getting top grades what would you plan for your future career?”

This allows them to see through the obstacle they have placed in their path to obtain the goal. The client feels that this is fun way of putting their limiting belief out of action for a short while and the first part of the question allows them to move past it, the second part of the question becomes something more substantial and they can feel that this could be a future reality.

When you get a “don’t know” the best question to ask is: “What if you did know?”

3. Presupposition questions

When your client is stuck or fixed to a particular way of thinking and acting to the same situation, a presupposition question can get them to alter their approach. Your client has said that they get annoyed at the way their parents seem to be telling them off all the time. The biggest problem as it appears to them is at mealtimes. They don’t want to eat the dinner that’s put in front of them and they don’t want to eat with the rest of the family because it always ends up in a row, so their answer to this problem is to storm out and go to their bedroom. So to get them to explore other ways of dealing with this is to ask a question or series of questions that the brain will automatically allow answers to.

“Who is the person that gets most upset when this happens?” They will know that through this question people are getting upset and will answer.

“What is one thing that you could do to improve mealtimes?” This will get them to think that things will improve and will provide options.

“When will you help to set the table?” One of the options they provided, this is getting agreement on a course of action that the brain has accepted can happen.

Getting your client to put forward options which would make it possible to resolve the mealtime issue means that through the questions that you have asked the fixed process that your client used to handle the situation has been broken.

If you want to help your client is the only way to do that is to know which type of question to ask at the right time? Well yes, but something to consider is that children ask questions at the right and wrong times, but they still get answers!

David Kentish is an experienced Youth Coach; you can contact him on coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Coaching Tools - Part One - The BWF Model

2011-08-03T07:15:00.000-07:00

BWF (Body Words Focus) helps us get from an undesired state to a desired state by understanding how we inwardly communicate to ourselves and outwardly communicate to others.

It is how we manage our state, which is a way of being at any given time. It is how we can control our emotions in any situation rather than allowing a situation or others to control the way we react.

Our state determines how we feel and behave and it’s a combination of the way we are feeling, our body language, our cognitive process and the connection it makes in our brain, which ultimately determines our state.

Anger, happiness, love, nervousness, sadness, meditative, these are all states that we may want to get out of or get into.

Someone cuts us up on the motorway, we can choose our reaction, annoyance, anger, pity or just being calm. The other person does not make us get angry that is the choice that we have made for ourself.

These are the three factors that will determine your state:

Your Body language, your physiology the way that you hold and shape your body and control your breathing. Just standing up from a sitting position and stretching will create a state change.

The Words that you use, whether you are talking inside your head or to others, it’s the choice of words. Expand your use of words that have a positive and complimentary meaning and ou will find that a more resourceful state comes naturally.

Your Focus, the questions you ask yourself. What we focus on is what we experience. Internal questions such as “why can’t I do this” and “why do I never have any luck” Change those words to “I can do this” and “ I make my own luck” will mean that a far more beneficial outcome can be achieved.

To be best prepared to achieve a desired outcome we need to be in our most resourceful state. Going into a meeting, a sporting event or having that difficult conversation with a family member and not being in peak state (which could also be termed as being in the wrong frame of mind) will lessen the chance of a successful outcome.

When I run a coaching session I need to be in peak state. If I were slumped in my seat (body) I would not be able to ask the right questions (words) because I have something else on my mind (focus); I would not be in my most resourceful state to enable my client to move themselves forward towards their goal. My whole demeanour would communicate to that person that I was not interested in them or what they had to say.

To get into peak state requires adjustments in three areas:

Sit up straight, take deep breaths, run through your mind how good a coach you are and that you will benefit your clients/team, use the words that allow you to focus on the most important thing because 'the most important thing is always the most important thing'.

Another way to change your state would be to create an “anchor”, by making a link to the desired state through an association to a certain emotion through repetitive use of a trigger. Get into peak state and then make a movement, say a word, tug or press on a part of your body and repeat the process until the trigger can automatically move you into your peak state.

When working with a client the BWF model is not just for me to use on me, it is a process that they can subconsciously adopt to enable them to reach their goals as quickly as possible. I can’t sit there and explain what BWF is and how it works. It needs to be achieved through the overall coaching sessions and importantly by my example.

Ask them how they would feel when they reach their goal, how would they stand, what would they say, what questions had they asked of themselves to get there. Ask them who they admire and why, what do they think has made that person so successful, well liked, respected, excellent at what they do. Is there anything that they could learn from that person.

David Kentish is an experienced Coach working with young people. You can contact him on 01778 561326 or coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

One year to the Olympics - the countdown begins

2011-07-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

On 6 July 2005, we knew that London would be hosting the 2012 Olympic games. I remember being in the car in Brentwood, Essex, with my husband when the news was announced, and I punched the air with a loud 'Yes!'.

This week marks the one year countdown, and look how far we've come! As with the games themselves, making it happen has taken dedication, clear goals, deadlines, and most of all, teamwork.

I think the role of LOCOG is similar to that of a facilities management team - co-ordinating a myriad of functions - construction, transport, ticketing, acommodation, tourism - and at the same time building and maintaining a profile (or brand) that all stakeholders will recognise.

What can you and your team learn from the preparation for the 2012 Olympics? I'd imagine you are pretty good at delivering services, working effectively with suppliers and clients. But what about the profile of FM? Are you a bit like LOCOG with their ticketing? Do people only talk about the FM team when things go wrong?

Here are my seven steps for raising the profile of your FM team:

1. Understand the strategic value of your FM service
2. Understand your organization’s strategy and business objectives
3. Align FM to these objectives
4. Gather evidence – performance data that tells your story
5. Create a ‘one team approach’ with your service partners
6. Know your audience
7. Use a common language to communicate

If you'd like a copy of my full white paper on the seven steps, please drop me a line.

Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call me on 01778 561326 / 07717 787077

A little thank you goes a long way

2011-07-21T02:09:00.001-07:00

I really want to share with you this email I received earlier this week...

"Dear Liz

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking your time to recognise two of the Front of House teams I work with here in London: Rio Tinto and Capita Symonds.

You might be unaware of this however my team at Rio Tinto was very excited when they were mentioned by you on Twitter a while ago. Your comments were very complimentary and your acknowledgement of their professional and friendly service really boosted the morale within the team. As we are very keen on celebrating success we also shared your “tweet” in our internal Portico newsletter in the month of June to further recognise the Rio Tinto team.

It is not until today I have realised that you also visited one of my teams at Capita Symonds for the “Women in FM” event a couple of weeks ago. You generously followed up by sending a “Thank you” note to the organiser and the reception team. Again, your comments were really complimentary and acknowledged the teams’ efforts. Your kind comments again had the same positive effect and really boosted the motivation within the team.

For any reception team in the city of London today, the expectations are very high from both visors and clients. The general rule is usually that “No news are good news” in regards to the Front of House service and if any feedback ever reaches the team, it is likely to be negative. This is particularly de-motivating considering the sheer volume of visitors, meetings and switchboard calls that are dealt with in an excellent manner on daily basis. This does my all means not mean that we don’t welcome and appreciate constructive feedback as it encourage us to work on a constructive solution to improve the existing service and prevent a similar scenario in the future.

Thank you again for your acknowledgment of my teams and their hard work; it really makes a difference to them and me.

Kind regards,

Peter

Peter Haman, Client Services Manager, Portico"

Facilities Manager as Coach?

2011-07-15T03:05:00.000-07:00

We should be clear about what is required of a manager when performing the role of coach in their organisation. Let's first look at all management activity of which there are three key areas.

Managing
Leading, and
Coaching

These three activities are complimentary and will help you achieve your business objectives, by enabling your team to perform at their best.

When you are leading, you create and share a vision of the future with the team and ensure their activities are consistent with that vision and making it happen.

When you are managing, you facilitate results by controlling the work of the team, by agreeing and measuring such things as client satisfaction, PPMs, budgets, timescales and so on.

When you are coaching, you support your team members in their learning, to enable them to develop the skills, knowledge and attitude necessary to successfully deliver their job responsibilities and goals.

These three styles often overlap because some of the processes and skills that are used in one area are also key in another.

High performance is not achieved if the manager is not clear about which approach to use in a particular situation. For example, if you take a coaching approach when deadlines are tight or a crisis has arisen, time may be lost. If you take a management approach when one of your team has made a mistake, they may miss the chance to leanr from it.

Interested in coaching skills for yourself, or looking for some coaching support? Contact us now coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk 01778 561326 / 07717 787077

How a small group can change the world

2011-07-15T02:43:00.000-07:00

Last week I had a meeting in Leeds, and was delighted to be offered use of the meeting facilities at BNY Mellon. In their meeting room was a poster featuring Margaret Mead, and she was quoted as saying,

'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.'

This got me thinking about facilities management, and the numerous debates going on in the sector about 'professionalisation' and 'collaboration'. Rather than segmenting the sector into clients/individuals/service providers/consultants and so on, isn't it time we started pulling together to make our industry an even more attractive place to work, develop and create revenue?

We need to consider:
• How will we achieve our goal for the facilities management sector?
• What will help us?
• What will hold us back?
• How will we overcome difficulties?
• How will we share success?
• When do things need to be done?
• Who will be responsible?
• How will we review progress?

So, next time you meet with someone who maybe doesn't share the same views as you on moving FM forward, why not consider how you can work together?

Summer solstice - it's the longest day!

2011-06-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we've already reached the longest day - where has the year gone to?

Cast your mind back to January, and all those plans you made - I'd imagine many of you pledged to have a better work-life balance in 2011 - how are you getting on? Some of you may be saying 'but work gets in the way' - and you're right, it does.

Let's take a quick look at how many minutes are available to us on 21 June, the longest day. 1440 minutes. Guess what - the same amount is available to us each and every day. How are you using your time?

Why not plan your day today - but instead of starting with all the 'work stuff', start by planning in the really important stuff.

For example:
6pm Bath the kids
7pm Read them a bedtime story, or better still, make up a story for them, one that stars the whole family
8pm Talk with your other half, ask them about their day, make some plans together
If your parents are still around, why not call them - you know, that 'phone call you've been meaning to make for weeks?
At lunchtime, schedule in a walk - you might not be able to take a full hour, but how about 15 minutes to get some fresh air, listen to some music perhaps?

Every day is the same length, but today is as good a day as any to get refocused on what's really important. Once you schedule in the things that matter, you'll find they get done! My 15 minutes of hula hooping (yes, honestly!) happens when it's in my diary - if it's not in there, forget it!

It's very apt that the word solstice derives from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). So, may I suggest you stand still for a moment, and think about your day?

After all, as Jim Rohn said, “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.”

World FM Day - any plans?

2011-06-17T04:26:00.000-07:00

With just under a week to go till World FM Day 2011, there are many events being planned.

Many of my FM clients and colleagues are holding their own in-house events, and I'd love to hear from anyone else doing this. Some of their ideas are focused on raising the profile of FM, and include:

A 'take the stairs' day - handing out pedometers to their staff and creating league tables - good for the health, good for reducing energy use!

A building quiz - covering areas such as energy consumption, coffee consumption, number of toilet rolls used in the building - a bit bizarre but again great for awareness.

Job swap - be FM for a day (they're hoping the CEO might take this role!)

There are of course national and regional events too, including our Women in FM event, more details here

Let us know your plans, email Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk, or add your comments below.

Happy World FM day, 23 June 2011.

Shall I be Mum?

2011-06-13T02:27:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks the role of women in the workplace (and more specifically on the Board) has been in the news. Our recent Women in FM event with Dr Mirella Visser created a huge debate about what success really is - and many agreed it was not necessarily being in a 'senior' role.

Whatever your take on success, I want to share with you a recent conversation with a woman who does want to be appointed Board director. She has been frustrated at being passed over several times for promotion. Here's a shortened version of our conversation...

Me: What's in the tin?
Her: Cupcakes, I always bake them for the senior management meeting
Me: Who else does that?
Her: No-one else, but they're all men!
Me: (can you see where I'm going with this?) Tell me what happens in those meetings, from the time you get into the meeting room.
Her: We have coffee, the MD goes through the previous minutes...
Me: Let's back track - what happens with the coffee?
Her: (After a bit of digging), I usually say, 'shall I be Mum?' and pour the coffees
Me: How does that word 'Mum' define you to the people around you?
Her: Aha!

When we promote someone to be part of 'our' team, we want them to be like us - which is why good advice is 'dress for the next job you want' - it's about being a good 'fit'. By labelling ourselves, whether it's 'Shall I be Mum', 'Middle Manager', 'only an FM' or whatever, we are limiting ourselves through poor use of language.

If you want to be accepted, start acting 'as if'...as if you are already on the Board if that's what you're aiming for. Behave as they do, be one of the team.

I'd love to hear your thoughts...

Email Liz Kentish the FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call me on 01778 561326 - 07717 787077

A day at The Facilities Show

2011-05-18T01:42:00.001-07:00

And what a day it was! I was the first speaker presenting at the Seminar Theatre, and my session on 'Engaging the Workforce' certainly started some debate afterwards. Two of my coaching clients were there too, and it gave us a chance to catch up on progress.

Debra Ward of Mitie Client Services ran two sessions, on The Profile of FM and Engaging the Room; Diana Kilmartin of Three shared her journey 'Engaging suppliers', and Steve Gladwin form Hochtief gave the audience pointers on 'Engaging the CEO'.

I had a list of people I know from Twitter who I hadn't yet met in person, and managed to meet all but one during the day. I also had a meeting with Heather Moses and Larry O'Brien from Planon, who I'm working with on a Webinar for June.

I also managed to meet up with the Asset Skills team and have agreed to run a Women in FM event with them next month, and have tentatively agreed to co-host a conference with a major UK university in 2012.

And my golden nugget from the day? Martin Brown, from Fairsnape, introduced me to QR Codes - if you work in FM and haven't come across them yet, you could be missing out!

All in all, a very busy yet very productive day - and a chance to see what's new in facilities management.

Did you get to The Facilities Show? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Post your comments below or contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call on 07717 787077

How to create your niche in 6 easy steps

2011-05-05T04:29:00.000-07:00

I was invited to speak at the Women’s Infrastructure Network’s second UK event yesterday, along with Christine Jones of Tigermouth (www.tigermouth.co.uk). My topic was ‘creating your niche’, and I shared my own journey in setting up a successful business, and gave tips for raising your own profile, whether you are starting a business or even job hunting.

Here are the six steps:
1. Who do I know?
2. Where are they?
3. What do I know?
4. What makes me unique?
5. What do those people I know trust me to do for them?
6. Where do I find more of these people?

1. Who do I know?
Consider:
• Current colleagues
• Previous colleagues
• Clients
• Suppliers
• People you have met at events
• Common groups
• Friends.
And make a list.

2. Where are they?
Now it’s time to go back through your list and note down which industry/sector each of those people work in. Identify where you know most people. For me, the 80:20 rule definitely applied, 80% of my existing network worked in the Built Environment sectors.

3. What do I know?Think about your CV – what would you highlight? You might like to build your own ‘asset register’, where you list all the skills and strengths you have.

4. What makes me unique?
This is where I started to ask those in my network – it was a bit scary, but they came up with things I hadn’t really considered, such as,

• ‘The expert in bringing people together’
• ‘She builds people’s confidence, makes them believe in themselves’
• ‘Takes time and listens’
• ‘Able to quickly understand the culture(s) of an organisation and gets under its skin’
• ‘Has that rare skill of taking people on a journey of change in a way that makes them feel a valued part of the process’
• ‘She’s well-known and well-respected in the sector’
• ‘She knows what challenges we face as leaders’

5. What do those people I know trust me to do for them?
Once again, time to be brave and ask those who work/have worked with you. You’ll be quite surprised. My list went like this:

• Be a trusted advisor and confidante to their leaders and future stars
• Create real transformation in their businesses, e.g. in bidding, service provision, people development
• Maintain confidentiality, yet be able to share best practice
• Keep them up to date with what’s happening in the sector
• Connect them with others – help them raise their profile

6. Where do I find more of these people?
I focused on two areas here, offline and online.

Offline
• Training courses
• Writing articles for trade publications
• Ask for introductions
• Industry events
Online
• LinkedIn (join relevant groups and start contributing)
• Twitter (share information that is useful to your followers)
• Blog and guest blogging
• Industry websites in your area of expertise – for me these were e.g. BSRIA, RICS, BIFM, FMA, CIOB, www.networkwithbifm.org.uk
• Create bespoke E-newsletters for your audience, like Let’s Talk FM.

Want to know more? Contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 07717 787077 – 01778 561326 or by email coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Sound Advice?

2011-04-20T06:09:00.000-07:00

I'm preparing for a talk I'm giving to a corporate's diversity group this week, and found myself remembering some of the best and worst advice I've been given in terms of my career.

The best;
1. know yourself and
2. be yourself

And the worst (well not advice actually but memorable all the same) from my headteacher on the day I left school, 'you'll never make anything of yourself because you talk too much'. Luckily that comment didn't put me off, but I'd imagine it might have a different effect on other people.

I'd love to hear your thoughts - what great and/or terrible advice have you received?

Drop me a note coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or post your comments below.

Th!nk FM - my take on this week's conference

2011-04-08T04:49:00.000-07:00

Feeling inspired by Neil Usher's poetry at Th!nk FM, I've decided to throw caution to the wind and take some of my own advice about stepping out of my comfort zone. So, here is my feedback...

‘To Nottingham’, came the cry,
‘Men in tights?’ wondered I.
Robin Hood wasn’t there,
nor his lady fair.
But instead greater heroes -
Our FMs.

No economics since school,
But Professor Joe made it cool.
A positive start
set our conference apart
For those who had gathered -
Our FMs.

Four parallel streams
Worked like a dream.
The choices were mine
How to manage my time.
And who to spend time with -
Our FMs

Newcomers we’d meet
had learned how to ‘tweet’!
Chris Moon inspired
A happy but tired
profession I’m proud of -
Our FMs.

A vending solution for all seasons

2011-04-08T04:08:00.000-07:00

Whether you are responsible for a single site, or multiple locations, having happy customers is the ultimate goal for any FM. Not only does it make for a quieter life, but it also gives reassurance that supplier services are delivering effectively.

Ensuring that the basic needs of employees and customers are met is a core part of that – providing a comfortable environment which includes a wide range of quality drinks and snacks to help keep people satisfied, on-track and motivated.

A research study has shown that 43% of employees say hot beverages specifically have a positive impact on their productivity, with 39% saying hot beverages help them to concentrate.

But it’s not as easy as just saying “let’s get a new coffee machine” and the perfect solution lands at your door. Further research has shown that 76% of decision makers believe there is a positive impact on morale based on the choice of an individual coffee system. Identifying the right solution to meet the needs of your organisation is essential, but can be a daunting task. It takes time, effort and budget – not always the simplest thing to achieve in a busy working day.

Even if a simple coffee machine is required, there are a variety of options available ranging from Bean 2 Cup where the beans are ground just before brewing, through to Pod solutions that provide a neat packaged solution. But a solution that satisfies more than just a drinks requirement can address a number of concerns all in one go.

Vending machines can be an effective option. Offering a readily available source of snacks and drinks, they can be introduced with the benefit of relatively low overheads. It also means out of hours areas are always catered for, which is beneficial where shift work is common or large sites require multiple machines.

If you feel in need of support when it comes to researching the best office vending machines to suit your customer needs, as well as for the installation and ongoing maintenance, it’s worth looking for companies that offer a fully managed service.

This service provides a one-stop-shop approach, as well as an additional level of consultancy. This ensures you get the vending requirements and support you need to deliver and maintain the best vending solution available for your environment.

So how do you know which suppliers will offer the best service? The key areas to look for are:

Reliability – effective account management and ongoing support
Efficiency – energy efficient machines saves money and supports sustainability goals of organisations
Service levels – having specific objectives in place that can be measured ensures all parties are clear about their roles and what success looks like.

It’s important to look for companies that are open about their products and services and are willing to commit to targets and availability in terms of customer service.

Selecting a vending machines provider that works with well-known and trusted brands also means you can be sure your customers will be able to enjoy consistently good quality drinks and snacks whenever they want them, leaving you to focus on your day job.

With thanks to thebluedoor and Mars Drinks for this guest blog.

Mars Drinks (marsdrinks.com) is a segment of Mars, Incorporated, a private, family-owned company founded in 1911 and employing 70,000 associates in 67 countries worldwide. The Mars Drinks brand of KLIX vending machines offers a fully managed service offering a single point of contact for all your drinks and snacks requirements working in conjunction with Mars Chocolate and Coca-Cola Enterprises.

Is being an FM like being a politician?

2011-03-31T09:08:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to be invited to the first Bee Craft dinner at the Wax Chandler’s Guild yesterday, where the after dinner speaker was Lord Hattersley. He spoke about his career in both politics and literature.

What particularly caught my attention was the distinction he made between today’s ‘career politicians’ and those of yesteryear, who had worked in industry, been in the forces and so on, moving into politics later on, because they genuinely wanted to make a difference.

I’ve never met anyone yet who works in facilities management who genuinely planned to be in FM when they grew up – so many of us ‘fell into’ FM from other sectors. So my question to you is, is this a good thing? Are we like the politicians of the past, who bring their experience of the commercial world to the House of Commons? Should we promote FM as a second career?

What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts – comment below or email Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Listen...do you want to know a secret?

2011-03-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

Did you know there are three levels of listening? I wonder if we listen actively enough to the people we have conversations with? Which of these do you practice most often?

Level 1
It’s like being at a party, where you hear that background noise but don’t really tune in. That is, until you hear one word – your name! Part of our brain kicks in when something is important to us, and our name certainly is. It’s the same thing that happens when we buy a new car, a new jacket and so on. We haven’t seen one of those for ages, and as soon as we’ve bought one, we see them everywhere. So level 1 listening – no thanks.

Level 2
This is the type of listening that goes on most days in the workplace – where we focus on the words someone is speaking – and sometimes (often?) we are even formulating our response while they are still speaking. By focusing on the words, we could be missing a vital message, which brings us to level 3.

Level 3
This is where we focus not only on the words – what is being said – but also on what is not being said, and this means the tone of voice and body language. There’s a great line in the ‘rainbow ‘ song that goes, ‘listen with your eyes..’, and that’s what we need to do. So often we can get the true meaning in communication from everything but the words. You know, when your other half asks what’s wrong and you say ‘nothing’ in a defensive tone of voice and your body language is closed too. They know that it’s certainly not nothing!

So, let’s aim for level 3 – pay close attention not just to the words, but to the tone of voice and all those non-verbal messages contained in the body language.

Want to know more about effective communication skills training for your teams? Contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call us on 01778 561326 / 07717 787077

Remember work/life balance? Here's some inspiration...

2011-03-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

W. H. Davies

Who has inspired you?

2011-03-10T06:57:00.000-08:00

International Women's Day took place this week - I asked my friends, clients and colleagues to tell us about the women, working in FM, who have inspired them.

Here are some of their comments:

Claire McDonald says, I have found the contract manager at my site a great inspiration. Caroline Laver came back from maternity leave to become the manager of the largest contract we serve, in terms of people, and the broadest range of services we offer. To do this while also having a family life is a great inspiration to me and I think she deserves great recognition for it.

Tracy Peters - I think ladies like Julie Kortens, Sam Bowman and Liana Sinclair prove how successful a women can be in the Fm industry. They are all great role models.

Alison Girdiefski tells us,
I would like to say that Sam Bowman is one of the most inspirational women that I have met for a long time. She continues to overcome challenges and have a positive outlook on life and I have never once seen her defeated. When I have been at a loss in my career, she has encouraged me and given me direction. I don’t know where she gets the energy from. Not only is she a busy business woman striving to improve her knowledge and carve out a successful career path she is a Mother and Mentor to many. But for me, most of all she has demonstrated that success cannot be quantified by one measure alone, on a professional level Sam’s success for me is the positive impact that she has on the lives of others. For those of you that heard Sam’s presentation on her FM Journey – “When I grow up Sam, I want to be just a little like You!”

Helen Versloot - In my top 5, Lucy Jeynes for setting up mentoring in WIFM, I've gained so much from it. Diana Kilmartin for being such a fantastic support & mentor, Julie Kortens, Sam Bowman and you of course Liz. Fantastic people all. Thank you for the inspiration, energy, willingness to share your experiences and fun that you bring to FM.

Liana Sinclair says, I'd like to wish everyone Happy International Womens Day. I think each and every woman in the group is an inspiration in so many different ways. So thank you and enjoy the day!

Here's a great response from Aileen Peverell,
I admire Annette McGill, Chair of the Charities FM Group who has shown tenacity and dedication to assist the charitable sector. Men also have been inspirational in promoting the rights of women in facilities. The first public toilets in the UK were built in Victorian times, around 1850 - but were exclusively for men. There was a general feeling at the time that having public toilets for women were indecent! So along comes a hero - the socialist writer George Bernard Shaw. He campaigned for facilities for women as well as men, and was responsible for the building of the first ladies' conveniences in the country in Parkway, Camden Town. When they were opened in 1905, local men demonstrated, as they did not believe women should have such a facility. They were regarded "as a feature so gross as to contaminate the value of all property in the neighbourhood". Thank-you Mr Shaw.

Vikki Wootton - What a great idea for discussion! I have to say Alison Hartigan for the encouragement and confidence she gave me when I started my FM career as part of the supply chain at British Airways. Alison put her trust in me and gave me opportunities to work to my full potential.

Alice Omolade tells us,
Happy International Women’s day, I am inspired by all women who make a contribution (in their own special way) towards the success of FM

And from Liz Lloyd Chapman - Happy International Women's Day to all! I am inspired also by all women who make a contribution but especially Jane Wiggins (my FM Tutor) who has got me through my PART 2 BIFM Qual and always gave me the confidence to continue with my studies. Jane has also guided me through my application for CBIFM of which I am awaiting my results. Thank you Jane for believing in me when I didnt.

One of my own inspirations in FM is Julie Kortens, Head of Corporate Services at Channel 4. You can see her in a short FM World video talking about her role - she is truly passionate about people, that's what makes her successful. (And she is BIFM's FM of the Year!)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdgFm0g3C-Y

Sustainability applies to people too!

2011-02-22T08:02:00.000-08:00

Liz Kentish The FM Coach talks to FM World about how sustainability applies to people as well as buildings. What are you doing to support your teams in facilities management?

Watch the video here

“I’m Ace” – the 7 day challenge

2011-02-14T07:28:00.000-08:00

Here is a short confidence building exercise for you (If you are up for the challenge that is!)

At the end of each day for the next 7 days I want you to write down 5 things that happened throughout the day that proved that you are ACE!

Now if this doesn’t come naturally to you, you’re going to have to go out and make things happen.

Don’t ignore the little things as well.

You include such things as complimenting someone, a good piece of work you did, the 30 minutes you spent with the kids when you would normally be watching TV – write down 5 things where you have added value to something or someone each day for 7 days.

GO FOR IT!

The 7 Day Challenge Template

Write out each “ACE STATEMENT” in the following format:

Number 1 was when I…

It meant that…

Afterwards I felt…

After the 7 days are up, look back over your list your will be truly amazed at how ACE you are!

Remind yourself of this exercise every time you feel that you are not good enough, because you are ACE!

Want to share your successes? Contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk 01778 561326 / 07717 787077

Tough talk

2011-02-07T02:48:00.000-08:00

As a manager and leader, you will at times need to give constructive feedback to your staff. It’s never easy, but don’t bury your head in the sand. If you get it right, you not only get your message across, but you’ll build a tighter and higher performing team.

In my work as the FM Coach, I often help people with this specific issue and in this article you can read my top tips to guide you through these tough conversations.

What not to do
Some people believe in the ‘praise sandwich’ – praise the individual, then cover the area you need them to improve in, then finish with another piece of praise. My view is, keep things simple and keep things separate. If there’s a performance issue, focus on that. If you want to give praise, do that at a different time. Don’t muddy the waters – after all, if someone is giving you some feedback on an issue they have with your performance, you’re likely to either forget any praise that came with it, or focus on the praise and ignore the more constructive stuff!

Be prepared
Although feedback is most effective when given as soon as possible after the behaviour has occurred, you should avoid ‘shoot from the lip’ feedback. Take some time to prepare, gather your facts and specific examples, and be sure to give feedback before the situation occurs again.

Ask them
Set the scene, highlight the topic you want to cover, then ask them what they think. It is more effective to allow the person to voice their own opinions before providing your own assessment of their performance. Most people are well aware of their own strengths and weaknesses and this could help ease into a useful discussion.

Be specific
Vague feedback doesn’t give the person anything to work on. Consider the ‘who, what, where, when, how and why’ questions before you launch into your feedback.

Don’t say: “You’re no good at building client relationships’.

Instead say: “When you were talking to Mr X the senior partner this morning, I noticed that you answered a call on your mobile phone.”

Focus on facts
Make it personal and you’ll lose credibility. Constructive feedback is not criticism and in particular it’s not about the person. It is about their behaviour and/or performance. One of our needs as human beings is to belong, and if we feel we are being criticised for who we are, as opposed to what we do, we can feel the connection with our colleagues is broken. For some people, this can be very destructive.

Ditch the Dump Truck
People can change 1 thing, not 12, so limit your feedback to one point. Besides, as a manager and leader of people, you should never be ‘saving things up’ for an annual performance review or other meeting. Tackle issues as they arise, one at a time.

Refuse to dance
Don’t return emotion with emotion. Some people will feel affronted by any type of perceived criticism and may react angrily. Allow them plenty of time to take in what you’re saying and ask questions if they need you to clarify things.

Agree a way forward
You may want to ask if they can suggest actions that would help build on their skills in this particular area. Let them take responsibility for coming up with the actions to move forward – they are far more likely to make progress if it’s their own solution. It’s important at this stage to agree when the steps will be accomplished.

Summarising
It’s useful if you summarise the output of the feedback session and any agreed actions, to ensure that you have heard correctly and understood things from their perspective.

Any thoughts? Want to share what works for you and your team? Send your input to Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

A version of this article appeared in FMX Magazine.

The Hunt is On

2011-02-01T03:32:00.000-08:00

I've just launched a new eBook The Hunt is On, essential reading for anyone looking for a new job in FM. In eight short chapters, I'll show you how to work out your ideal career, find the ideal employer, plan your job hunt, explain how to get the most out of networking, brand yourself, write a great CV, walk you through the interview process and give you top tips on how to make a great start in that new role, once you land it.

You can download your copy here

Five top FM recruitment consultants give their views on the current FM job market

2011-01-25T23:16:00.000-08:00

If your new year's resolution is to make that next great career move, or if you're planning to hire new talent into your team, then this newsletter is for you. Here, five top FM recruitment consultants give us their views on the current FM job market.

We asked five key questions:

1) How do you see the FM recruitment market at the moment?
2) What new roles do you see being created in the FM industry?
3) Where do you find most of your candidates?
4) What top piece of advice would you give to someone thinking about changing roles?
5) Why is it still beneficial to use recruitment agencies to find the top candidates?

How do you see the FM recruitment market at the moment?

Alex Sutherland, FM Property Recruitment Network: "There are still a lot of nerves out there. Companies are still nervous about taking too many people on and candidates are still worried about jumping ship. On the whole the activity has picked up and there is a lot more recruitment going on. 2011 will continue to push on and regardless of the expected 'double dip.' I can see the FM recruitment market being very buoyant in the coming year."

Ashleigh Brown, Dovetail FM Recruitment: "FM Recruitment was really tough in 2010, but I am definitely seeing a slight recovery and hope that this continues through 2011 and gets stronger and stronger. It is tough for a lot of people at the moment with so many candidates looking for a new role and jobs are often attracting over 100 applicants. Many candidates are failing to impress with badly written CV's and a lack of attention to the role they are applying for. Companies are being more specific on the types of people they want to employ and the selection process is favouring candidates with a positive and flexible attitude who are commercially aware as well as operationally strong."

Simon Aspinall, Catch 22: "It's probably fair to say that the market is challenging at the moment. The good news is that we are certainly noticing an increase in business levels on the permanent side v 09/10 - we anticipate this marks the bottom of the cycle and the waves of activity we are experiencing will soon lead to more steady growth."

Nikki Dallas, Talent FM: "We are definitely seeing very strong signs of recovery, there is a lot of confidence in the market at the moment and we have received some exciting instructions for this year. There is still some way to go before we can claim the recovery is complete, however we feel that the outlook for 2011 is very positive indeed."

Alison Halfpenny, Humanics: "The market is interesting at the moment and has changed considerably since I started recruiting some 14 years ago. There are a high number of candidates on the market, many at a senior level, but not, it would appear enough visible opportunities to apply for. Clients are approaching recruitment differently, many of them doing as much of it themselves, moving away from retained assignments and asking a number of agencies / consultancies to all look for the same type of person for them. There is a lot of networking and word of mouth referrals happening. In summary it is hard work, more competitive and challenging."

What new roles do you see being created in the FM industry?

Ashleigh Brown: "I see more business development roles within FM coming up, as companies rally to solidify their place in a slowly recovering market."

Simon Aspinall: "We are seeing more environmental, energy and compliance roles."

Nikki Dallas: "A lot more customer service skills requirements within a wide variety of traditional FM roles. Clients are willing to consider candidates from hospitality, airline and other related industries in their search for the best talent to ensure exemplary FM delivery."

Alison Halfpenny: "Most recently I had a request for an individual with very strong networking / door opening skills who could just simply create the opportunity for further business discussion. Otherwise the need for business orientated individuals continues."

Alex Sutherland: "At the moment 75% of our entire business is focused around business development professionals. Pretty much all of our major clients are recruiting very heavily at the front end of their businesses. Business Development Managers, Estimators, Bid Managers - there is a real need for them at present. This is a very positive sign as it shows the companies are looking to push on and win new work. This has now been going on for a number of months and as a result the boom of operational vacancies should follow in the coming months.

Where do you find most of your candidates?

Simon Aspinall: "The two main sources of the best candidates are through word of mouth recommendation and via our own network of contacts. Increasingly, the recruitment industry is using online professional and social media but it is still vital to have a good relationship between consultant and candidate and that can only be achieved by really getting to know your candidates."

Nikki Dallas: "Through recommendations and our extensive network, gleaned from 13 years in the industry. For our international roles we have an additional research resource. Social media is becoming increasingly relevant for sourcing quality candidates."

Alison Halfpenny: The majority of candidates come via networking and seeking referrals from known contacts. In some instances we have used the internet to advertise roles and on occasion we have made use of our research facility.

Alex Sutherland: "The majority of our candidates come through networking and referrals. Sites like LinkedIn have proved invaluable in the past couple of years. If we don't find candidates directly on there we are generally given names by the people we do find. We still place adverts, and get a phenomenal response, the problem we have is that 90% of the applicants are unsuitable for the role. The other way we find our candidates is by directly head-hunting them, LinkedIn also plays a large part in this process."

Ashleigh Brown: "Most of the candidates I am finding are coming from networking through the BIFM and IFMA and my own database collected over the last 11 years working within the industry."

What top piece of advice would you give to someone thinking about changing roles?

Nikki Dallas: "Make sure that your CV is the very best that it can be and that it sells you into the role that you are applying for. In a candidate competitive market your CV should be your 'sales brochure' and too many well qualified candidates don't do themselves justice in this department. You must communicate your achievements, your industry relevance and your suitability for the role. Your recruitment consultant should be able to guide you in this respect but there is also a wealth of information on the web. Use it!"

Alison Halfpenny: "Carefully consider why you want to move in the first instance. Next be sure your CV is up-to-date, to the point, accurate and interesting, be well prepared for interview and undertake enough due diligence on your potential new employer to be really comfortable before accepting an offer."

Alex Sutherland: "At the moment the market is very candidate rich. This has a number of effects on the market. Two years ago a company would give us a list of ten boxes that a successful applicant would need to tick. Back then if we were able to tick seven or eight of them we were on to a winner. Now that there are so many candidates actively in the market there are always a good number of applicants that tick all of the boxes. This basically means that if you are going for a job that is slightly different from your current role you are at a major disadvantage. If you work in business development for example and are keen to get back into an operational role then now is not the right time. Companies have the luxury of being extremely choosy when deciding who to bring forward for interview. My main piece of advice around this is to tailor your CV to the role you are applying for. Do not fabricate any achievements but really pick out the points that are relevant to the role and elaborate on them."

Ashleigh Brown: "If you want to change your job but stay within the same type of role, just with a different company, then this is going to be far easier for you at the moment. Where it gets difficult is if you are trying to completely change your role from one thing to another where you have little or no experience. This is because you will be competing in a candidate-rich environment against other people who have been made redundant with the skills you might be lacking, so you will have to do a really good job of motivating your reason for the change and your suitability. But also do not get despondent if trying to make a career change at the moment - patience, perseverance and a positive attitude will win out."

Simon Aspinall: "First of all it is important to understand why a person is thinking about changing roles (career development, lifestyle change, money, stale etc) then research and plan accordingly based on your aspirations and expectations of the new role."

Why is it still beneficial to use recruitment agencies to find the top candidates?

Alison Halfpenny: "There is a strong possibility that the agencies / consultancies will have access to people that the client does not. Recruiting well and for the right people takes time and commitment and that is what we do on a daily basis without the worry of running the day to day business, as the client does. We can keep the project discreet if required, and if well briefed we will sell the opportunity appropriately on the client's behalf. We take away the pain of the process."

Alex Sutherland: "Top candidates are generally good at what they do. As a result they are generally paid well, are happy in their job and are not actively looking for another opportunity. They will not be looking at job adverts or talking to agencies as finding a new job is really not something that is on their mind. That is where we come in!

"Every day we are constantly learning about the market, making new contacts, obtaining information on companies, finding out who does what and how well they do it. Armed with this information we are able to target specific people who we would class as 'top candidates'. We can present them with opportunities, get an understanding of what would make them move and match their needs with the opportunities we have.

"Don't get me wrong not all top candidates need to be head-hunted, sometimes we can get lucky with and advert or a referral, but the majority of them do. This process can be quite lengthy and, if done correctly, is quite a skill. We are able to target the top 10% of the market most employers do not have access to.

"We are not saying that we are the only people who can do this, but we do it on a daily basis so what we can do is save you time, save you money and ultimately give you piece of mind."

Ashleigh Brown: "One of the best reasons for continuing to use agencies for your recruitment would be that they cut out all the hard and time consuming work. They will only send you the best of all the applicants to review/interview. Good recruiters also network a lot within the industry and thus have access to a wide range of skill sets, which could prove very useful for some of the more challenging positions that you might have. It also pays to use industry specific recruiters to fill your requirements within FM as many of the generalist agencies do not understand FM at all."

Simon Aspinall: "Not just still but more than ever! However, to make it work the client and recruitment agency need to work closely together so that the agency understands not just the role itself but also the structure, culture and strategy of the wider business and client takes appropriate advice from agency. It is probably true that more clients are attempting to recruit directly by using the easily accessible and wide variety of online tools, but that method can prove to be quite onerous and time consuming without necessarily identifying the best candidates."

"It is a competitive market so using a specialist agency where the consultants and researchers are highly experienced and knowledgeable in both the recruitment process and the industries covered is essential. Also, often the most suitable talent is not actively seeking a new role and this is where the agency can use their knowledge and experience to search and select the very best candidates to present to their client."

Nikki Dallas: "A good recruitment consultant who is an expert in their field will save you time and money by finding you the right talent for your business, first time. Identifying and engaging talent can be time consuming, costly and can have disastrous effects if you don't get it right. Employers often underestimate how effective a resource agencies can be in positively marketing your business in the industry."

Contact our panel

Alex Sutherland, Director
FM Property Recruitment Network
Tel: 0121 450 5115 / Mobile: 07960 872387
Email: alex@fmpropertyrecruitment.co.uk
www.fmpropertyrecruitment.co.uk

Ashleigh Brown, Senior FM Account Manager
Dovetail FM Recruitmen
Tel: 01635 43100
Email: ash@fm-recruitment.co.uk
www.fm-recruitment.co.uk

Simon Aspinall, Director
Catch 22
Tel: 0113 242 8077 / Mobile: 07976 156351
Email: simonaspinall@c22.co.uk
www.c22.co.uk

Nikki Dallas, Director
Talent FM
Tel: 0844 880 2426
Email: nikki@talentfm.co.uk
www.talentfm.co.uk

Alison Halfpenny, Director
Humanics
Tel: 07810 011896
Email: alisonh@humanics.co.uk
www.humanics.co.uk

If you enjoyed this blog, and you’d like to hear expert opinion on any other aspect of FM, drop me a line with your suggestions at coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Coaching Masterclass - what works?

2011-01-23T02:57:00.000-08:00

Last week, I co-facilitated a Women in FM session, which allowed the audience to experience for themselves the power of coaching.

Using several fast, focused tools, we quickly identified what's going well and how to do more of it - and areas for focus during 2011, along with small, manageable steps to achieve our goals in those areas.

Here's some feedback from the event:

What our organisations gain from coaching
- the ability to listen to each other across structures (horizontal and vertical)
- it will help to ensure everyone is “playing the same game” – it will become 2nd nature
- improved negotiating skills
- use coaching to mentor and coach each other
- help management to understand staff strengths and helps organizations achieve their strategy
- coaching is part of any good organization and is a contribution to success
- coaching provides us all with a “mirror” – enables us to see and understand who we really are
- coaching is the key to talent management
- coaching is positive, it helps everyone develop for the right reasons

What we found useful and interesting from the activities
positive attitude – building on it
- recognition
- found parity with each other
- motivating when we get a “thank you”
- share your sparkling moment – it’s infectious
- pass it on
- a lot of honesty

Find out more about our one-day Coaching Masterclass for FMs by contacting Liz Kentish the FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call us on 01778 561326 - 07717 787077

The Glad Game

2011-01-15T05:07:00.000-08:00

When I was a child I devoured books, and one of my favourites was ‘Pollyanna’ by E H Porter. The film version was on TV over Christmas, and a friend I was watching it with asked, ‘Liz, is this where you get your optimism from?’

I’m pretty sure it had some impact when I was 9 or 10. I learned early on in life that if you expect the worst, very often that’s what you’ll get. Expect something good to come from every situation and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

As we start a new year, why not take a leaf out of Pollyanna’s book. Here’s an excerpt:

"You don't seem ter see any trouble bein' glad about everythin'," retorted Nancy, choking a little over her remembrance of Pollyanna's brave attempts to like the bare little attic room.

Pollyanna laughed softly.

"Well, that's the game, you know, anyway."

"The--GAME?"

"Yes; the 'just being glad' game."

"Whatever in the world are you talkin' about?"

"Why, it's a game. Father told it to me, and it's lovely," rejoined Pollyanna. "We've played it always, ever since I was a little, little girl. I told the Ladies' Aid, and they played it--some of them."

"What is it? I ain't much on games, though."

Pollyanna laughed again, but she sighed, too; and in the gathering twilight her face looked thin and wistful.

"Why, we began it on some crutches that came in a missionary barrel."

"CRUTCHES!"

"Yes. You see I'd wanted a doll, and father had written them so; but when the barrel came the lady wrote that there hadn't any dolls come in, but the little crutches had. So she sent 'em along as they might come in handy for some child, sometime. And that's when we began it."

"Well, I must say I can't see any game about that, about that," declared Nancy, almost irritably.

"Oh, yes; the game was to just find something about everything to be glad about--no matter what 'twas," rejoined Pollyanna, earnestly. "And we began right then--on the crutches."

"Well, goodness me! I can't see anythin' ter be glad about--gettin' a pair of crutches when you wanted a doll!"

Pollyanna clapped her hands.

"There is--there is," she crowed. "But I couldn't see it, either, Nancy, at first," she added, with quick honesty. "Father had to tell it to me."

"Well, then, suppose YOU tell ME," almost snapped Nancy.

"Goosey! Why, just be glad because you don't--NEED--'EM!" exulted Pollyanna, triumphantly. "You see it's just as easy--when you know how!"

So, here are some questions you might like to ponder:
• What’s happening right now (this very second) that you can be glad about?
• What is worrying you, and what is there in that situation that you can be glad about?
• How can you use your experience to succeed?
• When things go wrong, what will you do to refocus?

Want to read more? You can read Pollyanna online here

Enjoy playing ‘the glad game’! Let me know how you get on.

Liz Kentish the FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk 01778 561326 / 07717 787077

Kick-starting 2011

2011-01-10T07:10:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

To kick-start 2011, Women in FM are running an event that will help you to plan your personal and corporate journey for 2011. Facilitated by Liz Kentish, the FM Coach and Julie Kortens, Head of Facilities at Channel 4, attendees will get an introduction to coaching and see for yourself that it can be fun and productive.

What are you doing to kick-start your year?

If you'd like to know more about the event and request a copy of the presentation, handouts and write up, please get in touch by emailing coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 - 07717 787077

Top tips from people in your industry who have been there and done it!

2010-12-22T03:54:00.000-08:00

Part Seven - Anticipating the unexpected

Be ready for anything! Also, remember 100 years from now, will the big problem in front of you matter?

FM by nature is fire fighting, and so it is important to take some time to step back and think strategically. Chances are in the long run you'll make life easier for yourself.

Know your facility from the inside out.

Create via a loose leaf binder with tabs, your Home & Office Bible as I call it. Keep one book at work and one for your home office. Put in all your vendors’ contact information; copies of all maintenance contracts; copies of any memos that you have issued; contact information for all senior management and your direct reports. In case of an emergency you will have all the info you need in your binders - both at home and at work. I know way too many FMs that solely rely on computers. Now you are prepared for any power outage, blackout or any other FM surprises that may happen.

Have a business continuity plan and know it inside out. Make sure your clients and tenants know what to do. Keep key contact numbers with you at all times – mobile and landline. People will look to you in a crisis, make sure you are always prepared.

What to share your own tips? Send them to Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call us on 0178 561326

Am I becoming a workaholic?

2010-12-09T05:22:00.000-08:00

Those of you who know me will know I like to keep busy. Just over a week ago I had surgery on my shoulder, and since then have been confined to the house – not only because I can’t drive for a few weeks, but also because of the snow.

I had a long list of things to do once I felt well enough – write out my Christmas cards, buy all my gifts online, write a few blogs, articles and e-books – but nowhere in that list was there any ‘down time’. Does that sound familiar to any of you?

Anyway, day one after I came home from hospital went a bit like this:

Check e-mails; check voicemails; put on TV; two minutes later turn off TV; pick up magazine; put down magazine, and on it went all day. Because I was full of painkillers my concentration was appalling.

What did this teach me? That sometimes I need to do nothing. I started to rediscover some wonderful ways to relax – watching the robins on the patio, tip-toeing through the snow to the bird food; reading Christmas cards; drinking a cup of hot chocolate while it was still hot! (If you work in FM, you’ll know just how many drinks go cold while we sort out an issue!)

I realised that we have to give ourselves permission to stop doing stuff – after all, we’re called Human Beings, not Human Doings!

I’m not a great believer in New Year’s resolutions – I prefer to have several small, short-term goals to stretch myself out of my comfort zone – but I looked back at the personal goals I set last January...and guess what? Yep, I promised myself I would take more time to ‘smell the roses’.

So, will you help me? When we meet up at an event, or when I’m coaching you and your team, will you ask me what I’ve done recently that’s been relaxing, me-time?

I hope you are staying safe in the bad weather – if you still have snow, why not take some time for yourself - go and throw a few snowballs or build a snowman?

Top tips from people in your industry who have been there and done it!

2010-12-07T05:13:00.000-08:00

Part Six - Measuring your performance

Joe Selby said recently on the IFMA Listserve: Find out what measures your CEO uses to determine whether or not the company is meeting its own internal goals monthly, quarterly and annually. Look at what aspects of the strategic business plan your group or department supports either directly or indirectly. For instance, most companies will include performance to budget as a major overall organizational metric, so the lowest hanging fruit of all for your group is your performance to your group/department budget. Are you over? Under? How do you keep track of this and what initiatives do you have in place to keep watch on your budget performance over the course of the year.

Your company may have an initiative related to business growth that's tied to recruiting and headcount. That's another area that facilities departments have a direct impact on and should be one you measure yourself against regularly.

Here's the overall point - don't measure pointless things that have nothing whatever to do with the success of your company and execution of your company's strategic plan. Way too many service departments (not just picking on facilities groups here) will measure nonsense things like the number of work orders they complete in a quarter or annually. Who cares? That doesn't demonstrate that you're being effective. It demonstrates that you're there and busy, period.

Being busy does not mean you're actively contributing to the success of your organization. It can, in fact, demonstrate just the opposite (as in you're completing a ton of maintenance work orders because you're doing a lousy job on your preventative maintenance programs, or you're executing lots of personnel moves because you're doing a lousy job of space utilization planning).

Measure the things you're doing that contribute to the successful execution of your organization's overall strategic plan.

My number one tip to FMs (Facility managers): As you translate business goals into project requirements think in terms of constructability and operability.

Define your goals, personally and for the whole FM service. Make them challenging, specific, timed, measurable and achievable. Is it about increasing customer satisfaction, reducing deductions, or reducing staff turnover?

Be specific and make your objectives measurable. For example, by what percentage do you want to increase customer satisfaction?

Want to share your own tips? Send them to Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or comment below.

Top tips from people in your industry who have been there and done it!

2010-11-17T03:27:00.000-08:00

Part Five - Improving your FM knowledge

It's difficult to give a precise top tip, because of the breadth of Facilities management. Know your facility down to every last nook and cranny would be one, make sure your H&S maintenance is as impeccable as can be would be another.

It is better to know a lot of phone numbers of experts in many subjects rather than trying to know everything by yourself.

Always be aware of the bigger picture and where Facilities Management fits into it... Facilities Management is a support function which is there to enable the continuous function of the customer's core business. Continuous review of service should be undertaken to ensure that support function is maintained and that Facilities Management is not disrupting or detracting from the core business delivery.

This can only be achieved by fully understanding what the customer's core business function actually is and the most effective way of doing this is work shadowing or FM / Customer forums. FM isn't all about running round putting out fires, it's more about understanding why fires start in the first place and putting planned measures in place to prevent them happening.

For cross-border FM: use the EN 15221 standards defining FM, its quality, processes, taxonomy, service level agreement. This standard includes the official European Space Measurement standard!

Practice makes permanent not perfect.

FMs MUST feel & know that they are being supported by their management.
FMs must know the business requirements of the occupants of the facilities that they manage and focus upon partnering with those occupants in improving the function of their business.

FMs must be provided with the capability to support their contractors and this means payment of invoices without delay.

FMs must have the availability to select and source from multiple contractors for the provision of services and have a method of establishing that value for money and services is provided.

FMs should not be lazy and expect the contractors to fund their deficiencies in management (a good/poor example is the requirement of some FMs for contractors to pay a fee to be on their selection database - this is fraudulent as well as lazy).
FMs must own the problems given to them until it is resolved to the reasonable and responsible satisfaction of all parties.

FMs must provide feedback to those who initialised a call.

Why not share your top tips? Send them to Liz Kentish the FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call us on 01778 561326

Top tips from people in your industry who have been there and done it!

2010-10-31T08:22:00.000-07:00

Part Four - Becoming a skilled communicator

It’s communication which plays an important role keeping effectiveness and efficiency in services at different client places, spread over a large geographical area.

For our client this problem was resolved by a web based software application in place. This system helped in:
Communication between site office, regional and head office.
Improved serving customization at client place.
Improving business development and training systems.

Be proactive and be a good communicator. Keep your internal customer updated on any changes that occur.

The best piece of advice, not only to facility managers but to anyone who is looking for ways to be more effective is simple, communication is the key. Many times issues, problems or oversights can be managed and people are more understanding if they simply are informed of the situation and what has or is getting done to address it.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate.
Continuous communication is critical...

Tell your customer when you're going to do something;
Tell them again whilst you're doing it;
Tell them again when you've done it

Any unforeseen delays or issues should be communicated as soon as possible with an amended completion date following as soon as confirmed.

Listen effectively... Only then will the FM be able to understand the client's pain areas and be able to help out in the effective way.

Be honest. People always prefer honesty to an attempt at hiding facts when things go wrong. Own up, and offer a solution.

Listen, Understand, connect and make a decision.

Everyone is a customer.

Not being one to believe the customer is always right, I do believe you should go above and beyond what is expected to make the customer happy.

Why not share your top tips? Send them to Liz Kentish the FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call us on 01778 561326

Top tips from people in your industry who have been there and done it!

2010-10-25T02:42:00.001-07:00

Part Three - Planning Effectively

Be flexible when planning, be alert when operating.

Always be aware of the scope of services you're working within and establish this with your client unit and customer base as quickly as possible.

You'll establish credibility far quicker with your client unit and customer base by demonstrating awareness of the scope of services and being prepared to say no, than agreeing to everything and then having to go back afterwards and explain that certain requests are out of scope and as such can only be completed at additional cost outside the standard charge.

Many FM Service Agreements run to hundreds of pages but your Commercial Management function should provide an abbreviated "What's In What's Out" document which can be used as a quick reference document in Customer Meetings to confirm the scope of services.

Share your plan. People, including clients, your team, your boss and your suppliers, need to know what you are planning. If you don't tell them, they won't be able to help you implement it.

Flexibility and multi tasking.

Want to share your tips with other FMs? Send them to Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call us on 01778 561326 - 07717 787077

Top tips from people in your industry who have been there and done it!

2010-10-13T23:36:00.000-07:00

Part Two - Building strong relationships with your team

Understand the meaning of the word DELEGATE and then do it.

Take care (a lot) before hiring a FM partner.

Be proud and honest in ALL your activities; the client isn't stupid or blind and your reputation goes before you in a very small world in which we all know the blaggers and that showmanship has won contracts....and say thank you - a lot! to your team, to your payroll, expenses clerks and all the people that push paper to keep your contract afloat, to the cleaners and the hospitality gangs (they all know when they get it wrong; everybody does!) so tell them when they get it right in a sincere way that they will value.

I've worked in FM for nearly 10 years now and the first manager I worked for was asked once what his secret was, his answer... "the 3 Ds" Decide, Delegate and Disappear!

Treat your vendors and contractors with the same respect that you afford your clients.

If you would like to share your tips of any aspect of people management in FM, contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call us on 01778 561326 / 07717 787077

Look out for Part Three - Planning Effectively.

Top tips from people in your industry who have been there and done it!

2010-10-11T08:37:00.000-07:00

Part One - Understanding your client

Know who you are working for and what their priorities are. Neither is as obvious as it seems and both are critical to continued success. In the lexicon of today, who are your customers and what are they looking for? Lowest cost? Executive appearance? Kerb-side appeal? Productive employees? No union issues? Long term maintenance of fixed assets?

Always think from the point of the user of FM; make sure that you've done all you can to avoid distraction from their core task(s); everything is well prepared, meticulously organised and flawlessly executed!

Be visible. You're likely to be written off as unimportant, forgotten and kept out of the loop if you aren't highly visible and communicating with both management and end users (your customers).

Always ask yourself "what does GOOD look like to them?" It's a really easy way to start understanding what are the true objectives and therefore your deliverables.

Have fun.

Make sure that you manage the expectations of those that you work for and deliver what you promise.

Don't assume that just because one client likes the way something is carried out the next one will as well.

Listen to your client and pay attention to your client, doing this you will be able to prioritize your activities during the day. Besides that do the engineering work that the clients very seldom evaluate on the daily operation.

The most effective Facilities Managers with whom I've worked over the years have shared the quality of knowing their organization's mission and business model inside and out. Facilities Management is customer service, and the most effective customer service starts with really understanding what your customer's needs are and how your customer relies on and uses your product. The FM who understands how their facility is used will be best empowered to maximize its value to the end users they serve.

Always operate with a high level of integrity. There's no room in the FM business for BS.

Thanks to all those who contributed - too numerous to mention but we'll give them a name check along the way!

Horses for courses?

2010-10-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

I have to confess, the nearest I’ve been to horse riding was on a donkey on the beach at Weston-super-Mare way back when... however, I was privileged to see the great Monty Roberts in action at the weekend, at Gleneagles. You will probably know him as the “Man Who Listens to Horses”. His goal is “to leave the world a better place than I found it, for horses and for people, too.”

I saw and heard so many parallels between good horsemanship and good leadership watching Monty in action. Here are the highlights I drew from the event:

Violence is never the answer – horses are like people – we all have a need for trust and partnership. (For violence, read bullying)

Monty starts by ‘Joining up’ with the ‘difficult’ horse – in people terms this is about getting in synch with the people you work with. Monty understands and uses the horse’s body language – if we ‘speak the same language’ at work, we’ll build rapport quickly. Talk to me if you’d like to understand more about different styles of communication.

When the horse gets something right, he gets instant reward/recognition; if it’s not right, he gets an instant reminder (shorter reins, certainly no violence).

When they get it right, you don’t take your hands off the reins - do it again and again until it becomes second nature.

One of the key things with horses is to keep on helping them learn – they have a huge capacity for learning, and if they're not stimulated they become bored and disruptive. Does this sound like some of the people you work with?

If you want to build High Performing Teams on your organisation, come and talk to the experts. Liz Kentish The FM Coach and the team will help you, using fast, effective solutions. Contact us today coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk 01778 561326 / 07717 787077

What do you look for in FM networking events?

2010-09-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

Firstly, thank you to all those who completed our survey recently. Here’s what you told us:

Over two thirds of you already attend networking events, both for professional and personal development. If you don’t attend these events, it’s generally due to lack of time, or the location being inconvenient.

Early evening events pip the post for the best time, followed by breakfast sessions; in terms of content you told us you prefer presentations from guest speakers and bite-sized training – shorter, more focused events work best for you, with plenty of interaction and time for networking. Many respondents comment that networking is actually quite difficult; ‘facilitated’ networking is often a good way to tackle this – we are working on this right now.

How about topics? Well, there was an even split between FM-specific topics and more general business subjects. The one thing that you tell us that you hate above all else is when a speaker, who in advance seems like they will deliver an informative presentation, proceeds to present their ‘sales pitch’.

Interestingly, most of you said you would be happy to pay to attend networking events – the amounts mentioned depended on length of time, venue and content. We’ll come back to you soon with our thoughts on this – we want to give you value for money, make networking events accessible, but still ensure that those who sign up to attend, do indeed come along. It’s frustrating for us all when we have to turn people away or put them on a waiting list, only to find those who did book a place, fail to turn up.

So, what next? We are looking at venues, speakers and trainers, with a view to launching a new series of networking events in 2011.

If you’d like to be considered as a speaker at one of these events, please get in touch with Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk 01778 561326 / 07717 787077

Coaching skills for managers

2010-09-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

Coaching is good management practice. Some of us do it more, some do it less. Some do it well, some not so well. A recent study of Fortune 100 executives by Manchester Consulting Group found that coaching was effective for all participants and resulted in a return on investment averaging 5.7 times the initial investment.

The following benefits of coaching were cited:
• Improved Relationships 77%
• Improved Teamwork 67%
• Improved Job Satisfaction 61%
• Improved Productivity 53%
• Improved Quality 48%
• Improved Organizational Strength 48%

If your organisation (whether you are an FM provider, or have your own in-house FM team) is to survive and prosper in current climate of rapid change, you need to be more flexible, move faster and learn faster than before. Coaching can help achieve this, particularly if managers train to become coaches themselves or at least learn some basic coaching skills and understand the basic principles. Coaching is generally used for performance management, employee engagement, leadership development and change management.

An International Personnel Management Association survey found that productivity amongst public sector managers increased by 88 per cent when coaching was combined with training (compared to a 22 per cent increase with training alone).

How is coaching different from day to day management?
Often as managers, we feel we should have all the answers – not only do we need to tell our people what the outcome should be, but also how to go about it. Of course, we often have more experience than them; however if you want your people to grow in experience and knowledge, then you need to help them find solutions themselves. Coaching is about asking the right questions to draw out their existing knowledge, experience and skills, as well as their creativity in finding the way forward.

‘But I’m too busy’, I hear you cry!

Much of an FM team’s role is reactive; by coaching them you will allow your people to take a step back and find solutions for those recurring issues. Allow your teams to solve them, and you’ll have more time to focus on being innovative and providing an even better service.

Your role in coaching
The appeal of coaching is that it’s centred on the individual, at a time and place to suit them; you could have a five minute coaching conversation in the corridor with a member of staff, or an hour long formal session.

Here’s what happens:
You agree the focus for the coaching using questions like:
• What would be the best use of our time together this morning?
• What would you like to go away from this session with?

Then you can follow one of many coaching models to draw out their existing strengths, know-how and other resources. Some well-known and very effective models are GROW, Solutions Focus, ACHIEVE™ and OUTCOMES™.

Confidentiality is one of the prerequisites of coaching, and should be made clear from the start. Even if you are their line manager, this still applies – people need to know they can speak freely in a coaching situation. It’s often useful to ensure senior managers are clear about this too; if they are aware that you are coaching your people, they may want to know all about what’s happening and the results.

One pitfall that many people fall into when they start coaching is ‘giving advice’. In a coaching relationship, your role is to ask questions, seek clarity where needed, and otherwise to stay quiet and let them answer. In fact, effective listening is the key skill for great coaching.

How will I know if it’s working?
Many organisations demand a clear link between coaching and the bottom line, which can be tricky. Measuring the impact of coaching is simple if you are clear from the start exactly what the person being coached wants to achieve. Begin by agreeing coaching objectives, key behaviours they would want to be demonstrating as a result of the coaching, and why they are relevant to your organisation’s and/or client’s goals. Calculate the likely impact of coaching, taking into consideration other organisational variables such as resource levels, client SLAs and any training and development programmes.

The cumulative effects of coaching take time to filter through your organisation, so you should review the impact on a regular basis. Other measures you can use include 360° assessments and staff surveys, both before and after the coaching, focusing particularly on behaviours. If using 360° processes, make sure you involve your end users too, as these are often the people who will most readily notice a difference in behaviours.

What skills do I need?
Although you can pick up a book on coaching skills and get stuck in, it’s worth undertaking some training to learn not just the skills you’ll need, but also how it feels to be coached, and to see the fast results that can be achieved.

It’s worth networking with others within your organisation who are using coaching skills, as well as some of the coaching circles and networks you’ll find outside. As a coach we never stop learning – nor should we, otherwise we risk slipping back into ‘management mode’.

Although I always have high expectations for my coaching clients, they still amaze me with their resourcefulness and commitment.

Want to know more? Join our ‘FM Coaching Programme’ later this year, where you will learn to be an effective coach, and also have the opportunity to be coached by an expert.

Liz Kentish The FM Coach, 01778 561326 www.lizkentishcoaching.co.uk Follow me on Twitter

A version of this article appeared in FMX magazine Sept 2010

Can’t see the wood for the trees?

2010-09-02T06:33:00.000-07:00

I went motor racing last weekend – not something I do very often I must say! I was fortunate to spend time with a team coach, and I asked him how he trains top drivers, and what their main obstacles are.

This is what he told me...

When you first learn to drive on a track at speed, the key thing is to be focused 100% on where you want to go. One of the main issues new drivers have is that they focus on what they don’t want.

So, for example, they might be saying to themselves,
‘I mustn’t hit the barrier’, and guess what happens more often that not? Yes, exactly. They hit the barrier.

I find this happens a lot in business too. We get so preoccupied by what we don’t want, that we almost make it come true by our self-talk. In coaching it’s similar; sometimes it’s easier to think about what we don’t want, rather than what we do want.

Take a leaf out of the great racing drivers’ book; a great question to ask yourself if you’re focusing on the barriers, is ‘what do I want instead?’

As the late Ayrton Senna himself said,

'And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.'

So, what do you want instead of what you have right now?

Liz Kentish The FM Coach 01778 561326 / 07717 787077 coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

'Wherever you are, be there'.

2010-08-31T02:50:00.000-07:00

This quote from the late Jim Rohn has always resonated with me – it’s about giving your full, undivided attention to what you are doing. So often, you can hear people on the other end of the ‘phone tapping away on their blackberry or iphone – I even see people checking emails in meetings! As far as I’m concerned, that’s plain bad manners.

I’m working with a client who is CEO of a major FM consortium, and she constantly demonstrates what Jim Rohn means by ‘being there’. As soon as she comes into a meeting room, or stops to talk to a colleague, employee or client, in a corridor, the coffee lounge or on site, she puts her ‘phone away, closes her notebook and gives that person her full attention.

Why don’t we see more of this? Are we really too busy to give people 100% of our attention? Think honestly about yourself and whether you do this or not? What’s one small action you can take right now, to focus on the person you are with, or the job in hand?

Coaching can help you focus. Find out more - talk to Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 / 07717 787077 or email coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

The man who took our bins away - creating the bin less office

2010-08-15T23:43:00.000-07:00

I recently facilitated a course for FMs and afterwards we got involved in a fascinating conversation about the realities of creating a bin less office. One FM had just started trialling the removal of all office bins and introducing ‘central recycling stations’ which in his own words was creating ‘anarchy’. He asked the group what they’d tried to help convince colleagues to go this way. Here’s the top tips offered by the rest of the group:

1. Communicate, Communicate and Communicate, it’s essential if the project is to succeed. Promote the reasons you are doing it, and use as many methods as possible, e.g. email, articles in the company newsletter, posters on notice boards, etc.

2. Get senior management buy-in and make sure they understand what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, are advocates for the project and above-all set a good example.

3. Provide real facts such as landfill taxes, corporate responsibility, environmental benefits, etc. If you contact the recycling companies, most will be happy to send you posters and information/facts that will support your campaign.

4. Put posters above each bin giving examples of what packaging and products go into the different bins, e.g. plastic food cartons, cans, paper. Even consider colour coding them to match the bins. Expect that even the most intelligent of people will take time working out what should go where!

5. Some staff may protest by leaving their rubbish on their desks for the cleaners to pick up. One way around that is to inform the cleaners not to remove any such rubbish and people will soon get the message. Another is to provide small ‘personal desk-top recycling boxes’. They’re only for paper and it’s the responsibility of the staff to empty the contents into the main recycling point each day, but it helps with goodwill. They cost between £2-4 each.

6. Display recycling results for your building and/or business on notice boards or include them in your newsletter to help people see that the project has a purpose and show that it is being closely monitored.

7. Expect mayhem, at least for a while and some people may treat you like you’ve stolen their right arm and done it just for fun. But time is a healer and with this one, people will just have to accept it and get used to it.

8. Communicate, Communicate and Communicate. Did I say that already? Well it can’t be stressed enough. It’s the key to making it all work.

Eleanor Rigby – ‘wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door’

2010-08-01T01:53:00.000-07:00

This week I’ve been coaching a couple of clients about the perception people have of them in the workplace. Listening to the words of the Beatles’ ‘Eleanor Rigby’ this morning made me realise that many of us have different ‘faces' that we wear, which could mean we present a different picture to the people around us: to our families, friends, the boss, our colleagues, clients, contractors...the list goes on.

Is it a bad thing to have different ‘faces'?

If you check out the Johari Window* you will see that the ‘window’ we often need to work on is the ‘open’ window, where we, and others, know more about the authentic person we are. Different people may need to know different things about us, but the key thing is, it must be part of the real person – not some made-up persona or characteristic that we don’t have.

Take some time to think about where you keep your ‘faces’ and who gets to see which.

Want to find out more about perception, and how to change the way you are viewed at work? Call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 or email coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

*A Johari window is a cognitive psychological tool created by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1955 in the United States, used to help people better understand their interpersonal communication and relationships. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johari_window)

What can we learn from the World Cup?

2010-07-07T04:12:00.000-07:00

I have to admit it, I got sucked into the excitement about the World Cup - I couldn't help myself! The whole nation seemed to create a groundswell of patriotism, support and rallying around our team. Then, as quickly as it began - it was over.

I see similarities in many workplaces - a new idea, a new manager, a new building - they can all set high expectations for the existing team; which can be dashed if we don't create momentum.

So what does that mean? Have someone act as your 'champion' of the cause, and encourage them to:

Shout about successes, even the small ones
Catch people doing things right - exhibiting the behaviours you want to encourage
Create a common language around success
Ensure the topic/project/theme is always on the agenda for your meetings and away days
Set objectives for everyone - common goals help us work together

Keep the momentum going and you are far more likely to succeed - be sure your managers, leaders, key players and supporters are all pulling in the same direction!

So, almost the end of the World Cup - rugby next I think!

Liz Kentish The FM Coach 07717 787077
coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Social networking can help your career

2010-05-24T00:47:00.000-07:00

The corporate communication teams in organisations have for the longest time controlled what messages are put out into the world about the company and its people. Oftentimes only the most senior or glamorous get to become spokespeople and the real specialists are hidden away, never getting the chance to talk publicly about their subject or engage and debate with others, for the benefit of their peer group.

Social media changes all of that, allowing everyone to have a voice. Whilst it’s not suggested you do anything that contravenes your company’s communication policy, such as contacting the media directly with your point of view, you can use social media to build your profile for the good of your peer group, and your own career development. This article aims to give some practical advice about how it works and how to get started.

Whether you are employed within an organisation or are an independent consultant LinkedIn is an important tool for you. It helps you to make better use of your professional network and help the people that you trust and vice versa. On the site, you will connect with the people that you know now and the people that you’ve lost touch with, say from previous jobs. Once connected, you then have sight of all their contacts: their little black books. As you move around, you simply update your details and everyone in your network knows where you are and what you’re doing – a very clean database not previously available.

At the very least, this gives you a very soft route to contact people. There may be people that you wouldn’t dream of telephoning or emailing to enquire if they can help you in your job search, but connecting through LinkedIn is usually acceptable and allows for conversations that otherwise wouldn’t have happened. Although your direct contacts may not be in a position to offer you a new job, they may know someone that can.

Once on the site, there are a number of functions that can help you:
Recommendations - you can ask your contacts to recommend you. Their enthusiastic words will appear in the daily feed of your network so everyone will see what contribution you are making in your field.
Groups - there are literally thousands of groups covering all manner of subjects. Join some that are relevant to what you do and if you don’t find one that you like, set one up. Then join in the conversations that are taking place, be helpful and start to get yourself known.
Job search – companies now use LinkedIn to publish their vacancies. Search under the terms you’re interested in, and then it will give you information about who in your network works there, which may help you get the inside track. You can even look up details of the interviewer to get some background information on them, which may help the conversation flow in the interview.
Share – tell your network what you’re working on; provide links to interesting articles or examples of something you’ve created. The more useful you can be to your network, the more respected you will become.

Your personal brand
You will need to develop your online profile and once done, make sure you use it consistently across all social networks. Employers do use social networking sites to check potential candidates, so make sure everything adds up. As an aside, watch out for Facebook. This is the place where you express yourself to your friends which may be very different from your professional persona. Be careful about who you accept into your Facebook network and ensure you set your account so only your friends see your information.

When developing your online profile, consider what it is you do and who you serve. We can be our own harshest critics so it’s good to ask business associates how they view you and what they consider are your strengths.

Choose a picture or avatar (a graphical representation of yourself) and use it across all networks. This isn’t the place for your favourite bikini shot; this should reflect your professional image. It will effectively become your logo and people will come to recognise it as your part of your personal brand.

Building your brand
Choose your specialist subject. For example, you may consider yourself an authority on cleaning systems. Search for people that are already talking about the subject, perhaps through their blogs and subscribe to their feeds through Google Reader, or similar. This will provide you with material and comment about the subject. Combining what you find with your own material, get active online. Talk about your subject in online groups and forums, write regular blogs (at least two a month), record PodCasts, place great presentations on SlideShare, make short instructional films and place on your own YouTube channel and broadcast links to these and other’s materials through Twitter.

This type of activity will, over time, make you the ‘go to’ person for cleaning systems, or whatever your subject is. You’ll start to get known, you’ll build a following and people will start to recommend you. Your brand equity will rise and your access to opportunities will increase.

Of course social media is just part of your toolkit when it comes to your career development, but think if you get started now, and become a valuable contributor to your network, you may within a matter of months be perceived as the expert on your subject. Not bad eh?

One final note, please check your company’s policy when it comes to you using social media and ensure you work within the set out boundaries.

Article by: Liz Kentish and Christine Jones
Liz Kentish, the FM Coach for Liz Kentish Coaching – www.lizkentishcoaching.co.uk
Christine Jones, Director of Tiger Mouth, communications consultancy – www.tigermouth.co.uk

This article was published by FM World 6 May 2010 www.fm-world.co.uk

The power of networking, and social media insights

2010-05-20T00:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Women in FM hosted an event 'Social Media and You' with Iain Murray of Connected FM and Christine Jones of Tiger Mouth.

There was great advice about creating 'The Brand of You' as well as how to get started on Twitter and the tools available to track your brand online. This got me thinking about some of the people I follow on Twitter - some are for business reasons (e.g. people working in facilities management or coaching) and some for pleasure (hobbies I indulge in, films I enjoy etc). I took some time this morning to review content form the business people I follow and realised how frustrated I get when their publicly aired views become less about business and more about their political views for example. Then I looked at some of my own posts and saw that, although I am running a business, I also have made some postings that really aren't relevant to my business goals. So, Facebook for social stuff in future I think!

As always, one of the main benefits of the event last night (according to those who attended) was the opportunity to network. If you haven't yet been to one of our events, get in touch and I'll send you a personal invite to our next one, to be held in London on 2 June, 'Keeping it Real' - how FM can learn from the hospitality sector.

E-mail coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call Liz Kentish the FM Coach on 07717 787077

Leadership according to Sir Chris Bonington

2010-04-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure yesterday of speaking at the BIFM conference, which had Chris Bonington as its guest speaker. Chris shared with the audience his renowned exhibitions, particularly to Everest, and he drew many parallels with the corporate world.

Here are just some of the highlights:

A true leader listens, consults, then makes firm, clear decisions.

A true leader knows when it's time to turn back.

Leadership is like a ball that you pass among the team, then the leader picks up the reins at the right moment, in a firm, decisive and tactful way.

Trust is what holds teams together.

A true leader acknowledges their wider team, they are all as important to the success of the organisation.

Want to improve your own leadership? Then let's talk 07717 787077

Are you a Manager or a Leader?

2010-03-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

What would your team say – are you a Manager or a Leader?

What’s the difference between management and leadership?
How would you say they differ in terms of:
• Power
• Focus
• Risk profile?

This is an age-old question, and one that I have been asked many times, and one that I believe can be answered in several different ways. The main difference between a manager and a leader is how they motivate the people around them.

Do you have to be one or the other? Most of us fulfill both roles, moving from manager to leader when we realize we have to win the hearts and minds of those we want to follow us.

• Managers have subordinates As a line manager you command a certain amount of respect from those who report to you, and you tell them what to do. They do what they are instructed (usually!), because they receive their salary for doing so.
• Manager’s focus As a manager you get paid to make things happen, usually to budget and to deadlines. The actual tasks are usually delegated.
• Managers and risk As a manager you are expected to follow the company’s policies and procedures, without making any substantial changes. Generally this is comfortable for you, as it gives a structure to your role.

• Leaders have followers When you are a leader you don’t have direct reports (although you may still have them in your management role). When you want to lead, you are seeking followers, who follow you because they choose to, not because they are paid to.
• Leader’s focus Telling people what to do does not inspire them to follow you. You need to find out what drives them and show how following you will satisfy their needs. This could be a need for recognition, status, reward, a feeling of ‘giving back’ – as leader you need to know what it is. As a leader you always give credit where it’s due, and avoid blaming others when things go wrong.As a leader you will certainly demonstrate charisma, but this doesn’t mean you have to be friends with everyone, or even be liked by them. Some of the most effective leaders are often seen as ‘loners’.
• Leaders and risk As a leader you expect to face issues and problems, which need to be overcome. You are happy to take measured risks, and follow ‘the path less trodden’, to achieve your vision. People admire your courage – it’s important this is not seen by others as ‘bravado’.

In facilities management, a manager:
• Understands the contract requirements and business plan
• Is confident, a good listener, asks questions, is innovative
• Makes decisions according to the rules
• Customer- and service-focused – gets results by managing tasks
• Meets deadlines, and is focused on short-term results
• Is generally reactive
• Ensures staff understand their responsibilities
• Provides clear guidance to staff – tells them what to do
• Communicates effectively with teams
• Provides regular constructive feedback
• Encourages staff to improve their performance
• Addresses performance issues
• Encourages staff to offer ideas to improve performance

In facilities management, a leader:
• Is consistent in their own style, yet welcomes change and challenges the status quo
• Comes up with new, often radical, ideas
• Breaks the rules
• Generate new ideas and build a vision
• Focuses on long terms results
• Exploits their own strengths, and those of others
• Is aware of their own, and others’ weaknesses
• Pushes people to do and be the best they can
• Speaks in positive terms

So, where do you stand? For a no obligation 30 minute telephone session to identify your leadership strengths and how you can be even more effective, call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 / 07717 787077 or coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Keeping FM at the Heart of the Organisation – Your 5 Step Plan

2010-03-08T06:48:00.000-08:00

Are you tired of your FM team simply being seen as the people who get the call when things go wrong? As their manager, you might actually be OK with that – after all, FM is a reactive business isn’t it? You might see it that way, but what about your team – your staff, service providers and so on?

Here is an easy to use 5 step plan to raise the profile of FM within your organisation

1. Know what the strategy of the organisation is. What are this year’s key business objectives? Who is responsible for each? How are they being measured?

If you were the CEO or MD – what would you be focusing on?
Keeping costs under control? Keeping existing clients satisfied? Growing the business – winning new clients, growing organically? Meeting legislation and other requirements?

From their perspective, what are the stresses, the pressures, the goals, and the demands?

Demonstrating a clear understanding of the strategic focus of the organization will help others to perceive you as a leader and team player.

Once you have a clear sense of this, you are then better able to make decisions, tailor your communications, and make contributions that will enable others to perceive you and your team as invaluable to the running of the business.
Share these objectives with the whole team, so that even suppliers know how they are contributing to the overall performance of the company.

2. What specifically can you and your team do to help the organisation achieve these objectives?

Providing details of the return on investment (ROI) that the company gets from its FM spend – you will no doubt already be reporting on many areas through your management information (MI) system. Apart from your boss, who else gets to see these reports? Why not start displaying the information on notice boards so everyone can see?

What else can you and your team do? For example, if you run the front of house area, what else can you do to make visitors feel welcome (especially existing and potential clients)? Could you greet them by name? Even a simple ‘nice to see you here again Mrs Kentish, how was your journey down from Leeds this morning?’ makes a visitor feel important, as if you really care about them.

Can you set up short lunchtime seminars for the company on topics that are of key importance such as new legislation or new ways of working – but ensure they are fun and interactive so people enjoy them and come back for more.

Wouldn’t it be great for the FM team to be seen not only as the experts, but as the people who deliver training seminars that are fun?!

3. Who are the most influential people in your organisation – it may not always be the most senior people – who are the people that others seem to listen to?

Where do they go when they’re not at their desks or in meetings? What’s uppermost in their minds right now? What can you do to help them? Show people the value of what you do and they will remember and talk to others about it. You already know that your team is indispensable, but does everyone else in the company?
Get these people on your side and they will tell the rest of the business.

4. Recognise your own people, even if others don’t.

When people in your team perform particularly well, make a fuss. You can set up an awards scheme to nominate ‘supplier of the month’, ‘employee of the quarter’, or whatever else you feel will work in your company. Ask your ‘end users’ to vote and make it easy for them – a tick box on a postcard or a token to put into a box at lunchtime for example.

Many studies have shown that you don’t need to give a financial award, a simple thank you in public is what people want.

Don't however measure and reward pointless things that have nothing whatever to do with the success of your company and execution of your company's strategic plan.

5. Blow your own trumpet.

Record and publicise your team’s accomplishments, and inquire about other ways you can contribute to overall team goals. Be assertive about the FM teams’ capabilities and ask for projects that will stretch your current abilities. Be clear about the support you seek from the company, and be equally clear about the deliverables you will produce.

Positive Women - Who Wants to Know the #1 Question to Ask Yourself For More Peace of Mind?

2010-01-07T03:56:00.000-08:00

If there was one question you could ask yourself to gain more peace of mind and keep a positive attitude, do you think it would be blanketing billboards, magazines and the internet? Would it be sensational enough to make the news? Would: less controversy, better communication and happier people be worthy of paparazzi? I think not, and that may be why is the best question is not being widely publicized. Or, it may be because most people don't know what the question is to share it with the masses. Or, maybe people who like drama have kept it under wraps since time began. I'll tell you what it is and you tell me your results from asking it. Deal?

The Question: "How is the best way to handle this situation?"

Reason Why it is the #1 Question to Ask Yourself

We tell people what we don't want them to do and they do it because we won't acknowledge that the subconscious mind ignores the word "don't."
We "try" to make things work when we know, good and well, the word "try" implies doubt and gives us an "out." There is never any real commitment when we "try" and there are much better words to use instead, inspiring success instead of failure.

We often end up pleasing ourselves or others by default because we have done everything else and there's only one thing left to do. By this time, we are depleted, frustrated and weakened so are we really pleasing ourselves?

Peace of mind and a positive attitude come from playing your way through life in a manner that makes it fun. Have you ever spoken with someone who feels real peace of mind? They are helpful though avoid taking on everyone else's problems as their own. They see the bright side of situations. How do they do this in a world that is often negative and draining if you let it be? They ask themselves, "What is the best way to handle this situation?" in whatever words or thoughts they might use. They may not consciously realize they are asking it but they are.

Just do it. Your brain will answer any question you ask it so make sure to ask it good questions. What answer will you get? You will get an answer that comes from your gut and that is where you want all answers to come from. No one knows you better than you so ask yourself what you want to know about and always trust it as the right answer. Will it always make sense? No, maybe not immediately but looking back, how many times have you second-guessed yourself and chosen wrong?

Gut feelings are survival instincts you were born with and their job is to keep you alive. Ask the question, trust the answer.

To be more positive, empowered, successful, and have greater peace of mind, I invite you to visit http://PositiveWomenRock.com/gift where you will receive audio and PDF versions of "3 Reasons Positive Women Excel at Everything" and invitations to TeleWomenars - empowering conversations for women.

Submitted by Kelly Rudolph, Creator of PositiveWomenRock. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kelly_Rudolph

For one to one support in handling those challenging situations, contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 or coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Plain English day!

2009-12-08T07:09:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 8 December is Plain English Day! Here's a great example of how-not-to-do-it...

A ‘research team’ proceeded towards the apex of a natural geological
protuberance. The purpose of their expedition – the procurement of a sample
of fluid hydride of oxygen in a large vessel, the exact size of which was
unspecified.

One member of the team precipitately descended sustaining severe fractural
damage to the upper cranial portion of his anatomical structure. Subsequently, the second member of the team performed a self rotational translation
orientated in the direction taken by the first member.

So who are these mysterious people? Jack and Jill of course!

Liz Kentish the FM Coach is an expert in resolving communication problems for FMs. Call her now on 07717 787077 or email coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk for a free copy of Effective Communication Skills for FM Professionals.

Confidence sapping friends & colleagues

2009-11-25T02:00:00.000-08:00

The people whom you have the most contact with and hang around will have either a positive or negative affect on your levels of self-esteem and confidence.

We all know those people who are positive, happy and joyful to be around. How do they make you feel?

Yes, they make you feel the same! They can bring zest into a boring atmosphere and can fill the room with positive, can do vibes that has a knock on effect onto everyone else.

We also know of those people who could moan for their country!

They never had the opportunities, they are always putting people down, they don’t like others to be successful, they are jealous and are negative thinkers - need I go on!

These people drain your energy and bring you down to their level, a million miles away from the level that YOU want to be operating on.

So what should you do to make sure that the people who you hang around with empower and support what you stand for rather than bring you down all of the time?

1. You have the power to choose who you hang around with. Ideally you want happy, vibrant and positive people.
2. If you have good friends who are negative and yet you still want to hang around them, make a point of letting them know how you feel – if they are a true friend they will respect you for this. If they are negative from time to time just acknowledge that this is what they are like and block out the negativity.
3. The same can be said with family. Your more mature family members have behaviours that have been conditioned for years and years and from different eras. Appreciate where they have come from and as in number 2 above, elicit and select the information that filters through to your brain.
4. Remember, that nothing has meaning in life except the meaning that you give it.

Things to do today, to make a difference

2009-11-25T01:45:00.000-08:00

1. Say 'thank you' to everyone who gives you service today - good or bad
2. Phone that friend you've been meaning to call for ages
3. Buy a copy of the Big Issue
4. Wish an American friend Happy Thanksgiving for tomorrow
5. Do something for someone else, without them knowing
6. Buy and read a newspaper you would never normally read
7. Listen to a new piece of music
8. Try to find a positive in everything that happens to you, and around you, today
9. Find a club or network you've been meaning to join for ages, and join!
10.Set up your own blog or twitter account

Sustainability applies to people too!

2009-10-30T05:05:00.000-07:00

I’m worried. It seems to me that our sector is becoming more concerned about the effectiveness of our buildings and plant, and less concerned about our people. If you find something unexpected with, for example a chiller unit, what do you do? Take action! Why? Because it’s critical to the running of the building, right? You might call in an engineer, increase the number of checks, replace a filter – you do whatever is needed to get the chiller unit working effectively again.

But what do we do for our people?

Pressure is a typical aspect of modern life and particularly in the work environment. We ask a lot of the people who work for us - continuous improvement, commitment, long hours, loyalty, innovation, creativity. Things are no easier outside work with most people juggling the demands of their job with family, hobbies, friends and numerous other commitments.

Pressure in itself is not however inherently bad. It’s when pressure goes beyond our ability to cope that problems arise. When our people are in their ‘stretch zone’ rather than their ‘comfort zone’ they are usually highly engaged, innovative, productive and, as long as they are not permanently stretched in one single direction, highly satisfied and motivated. Most organisations understand this, but are not so able to recognise when teams are sliding from ‘stretch’ into ‘panic’. At this point their performance starts to diminish rapidly.

Often employers are not aware that there is a problem until pressure has increased to a level where the employee feels overwhelmed, by which time the situation is more obvious but harder to recover from.

So, if you again compare the faulty chiller unit with the people working for you, we need a way to check in before the pressure is too much to bear.

One of the quickest and most productive ways of doing this is by having ‘leadership conversations’ with your people. You need to gain a clear understanding of their performance and find out which ‘zone’ they are spending most time in.

We can do this for you, as it’s often easier to bring in outside experts to assess how effective your people are in terms of their coping mechanisms. But if you want to make a start yourself, here are some sample questions to ask yourself and your teams:

• Which teams are coping well? How do they approach their issues? How can other teams learn from their experience?
• How can we help individuals change their approach and so get better outcomes for them personally and for the team?
• What else would improve as a result?
• What knowledge, experience, resources do you already have in the organisation to help?
• What might be the first small step?

To find out more about ensuring high performance without pushing your people into 'panic' contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach now on 01778 561326 / 07717 787077 coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Grab yourself more 'me' time - Free E-book from Heather Bestel

2009-10-02T07:34:00.000-07:00

Heather has kindly made her new e-book available to dowonload FREE from her blog, just click here

As Heather says, 'This is a time of year when things can start getting a bit frantic, especially in the run up to the festive season. Just when we need more energy, it seems to vanish. This is when we really do need more me time.'

I hope you enjoy the e-book, do let me know what you think.

For more support with your time management contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 - 07717 787077 coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Have a fabulous weekend.

Defining FM

2009-09-29T06:36:00.000-07:00

Here I am in Edinburgh, facilitating the Professional Facilities Manager Module 2, and once again the topic has come up about how to promote FM as a profession, and as a career.

My delegates this week come from so many different organisations, and not one of their roles is the same. Here's what the Asset Skills Council says about Facilities Management...

"Facilities Management (FM) relies on people with excellent management and communications skills, combined with specialist know-how.

The Facilities Manager provides the services that ensure the smooth running of the environments people encounter in their working and personal lives.

They may have a range of job titles but they form a vital management function. They work behind the scenes supporting all operations from building maintenance through to catering, cleaning, reception and security.

The FM is the person who introduces service innovations in office buildings, shopping centres, hospitals, educational establishments or big sports stadiums.

In many cases the Facilities Manager will also be responsible for environmental management, business continuity planning, risk management and sustainability.

If there is a problem, it is the FM's job to solve it while minimising disruption to the daily business of the organisation."

For me, this is the key phrase, 'They may have a range of job titles but they form a vital management function'.

If you want to ensure your organisation recognises the role FM can play in strategic business objectives, talk to Liz Kentish The FM Coach 01778 561326 / 07717 787077 coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Positive politics for powerful women

2009-09-18T00:18:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday night our Women in FM group was delighted to welcome Michelle Brailsford, of Jupiter Consulting, as our guest speaker.

Michelle challenged and enthralled us on the topic of politics for women in the corporate world, and described how it's about survival of the savvy. Here are her top 7 tips for 'playing the game'.

1. Build powerful alliances (map them out if you haven't already)
2. Manage your image and perceptions about yourself
3. Master the right language to sell your ideas
4. Manage hidden agendas
5. Network
6. Promote yourself with decent boldness
7. Just do it!

Want to find out more? Call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 / 07717 787077 or caoch@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Traits of the Nation

2009-09-07T00:09:00.000-07:00

I want to share with you this interesting research from OnePoll, and would like to hear your views - do you agree?

"Talking about the weather, sarcasm and being great at queueing were yesterday (Sun) hailed as the top traits which makes us British.

The characteristics emerged in a study of a 5,000 adults which asked them to pick out the things - good and bad - they believe makes us unique as a nation.

An obsession with soap operas such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Eastenders was number four in the list.

And, worryingly, getting drunk was also named and shamed as a fundamental part of being a Brit, regardless of time, day, location or reason.

A spokesman for global research company www.onepoll.com, which conducted the poll said: ''This is a brilliant list of characteristics and some of the observations are absolutely spot on.

''You can't go anywhere or do anything in Britain without someone talking about the weather, and we're almost proud of the fact that we get more rain than anywhere else.

''What this poll demonstrates really well is how proud we are to be British - more than two thirds of respondents said they felt honoured to be a part of this country.''

Researchers found 58 per cent of people like nothing more than chatting about the forecast.

More than half also said we are the politest nation when it comes to queueing and 48 per cent considered sarcasm as the highest form of wit for Brits.

A staggering 44 per cent of people enjoy escaping from reality to a world of the ridiculous with soap operas, and 43 per cent say binge drinking is one of their guilty pleasures.

Sixth place went to our love of a bargain, whether it be red label shopping in supermarkets, buy one get one free offers or money off coupons, 42 per cent of folk can't resist splashing out on something cut price.

At number seven was our love of curtain twitching with 41 per cent of people admitting they can't help adopting the role of the nosy neighbour.

Loving trash television, moaning and being obsessed with class all appear in the top 10 of things which make us 'Typically British'.

A spokesman for www.onepoll.com continues: "In the main part the traits listed in the top 50 are illustrative and definitive of who we are as a nation.

"There is the odd inclusion of bad behaviour - such as drinking a bit too much or having a moan - but every normal person has their little vices.

"I would conclude that we are a very accepting, proud and strong country."

Other British traits include our obsession with traffic and asking people about their journeys, leaving things to the last minute, being unhappy with our weight and loving all things deep fried.

True Brits also have a real love and sense of loyalty for the Royal Family, and admit to emulating the life and style of celebrities.

And showing a humourous side, 21 per cent can't help taking the mickey out of their mates, 30 per cent enjoy other people's misfortune and 22 per cent aren't afraid to laugh at themselves.

TOP 50 'TYPICALLY BRITISH' TRAITS
1. Talking about the weather
2. Great at queueing
3. Sarcasm
4. Watching soaps
5. Getting drunk
6. A love of bargains
7. A love of curtain twitching
8. Stiff upper lip
9. Love of all television
10. Moaning
11. Obsession with class
12. Gossiping with neighbours over the garden fence
13. Obsession with the traffic
14. Enjoying other people's misfortune
15. Inability to complain
16. Love of cheap foreign holidays
17. Working long hours
18. A soothing cup of tea to ease worries
19. Eating meat and two veg
20. Looking uncomfortable on the dance floor
21. Feeling uncomfortable when people talk about their emotions
22. Clever sense of humour
23. Obsession with property values
24. Pandering to political correctness
25. Road rage
26. Being unhappy with our weight
27. Wanting a good tan
28. Being proud of where we live
29. Not saying what we mean
30. The ability to laugh at ourselves
31. Washing the car on a Sunday
32. Taking the mickey out of others
33. Asking people about their journey
34. Inability not to comment on how other people bring up their children
35. Jealousy of wealth and success
36. Being overly polite
37. Texting instead of calling
38. An inability to express our emotions
39. Obsession with the Royal Family
40. Fondness for mowing the lawn
41. Love of rambling through the countryside
42. A love of all things deep fried
43. Emulating celebrity lifestyles
44. Leaving things to the last minute
45. Irony
46. Keeping our homes neat and tidy
47. Take decisions and accept the consequences
48. Achieving against all odds
49. Wanting our sportsmen / teams to fail
50. DIY on a Bank Holiday"

Research conducted by global market research company www.onepoll.com

So, what do you think? Email your comments to Liz Kentish the FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

"The root cause of the economic crisis wasn`t subprime mortgages; it was subprime leadership."

2009-09-03T01:48:00.001-07:00

I want to share with you this review, from Reuters, of Bill George's book '7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis'

Harvard Business School Professor and Former CEO of Medtronic Bill George Offers leaders a Path Through the Economic Crisis in His Latest Book, 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis

As we approach the one-year anniversary of the meltdown of Wall Street, Harvard management professor and former Medtronic CEO, Bill George, reminds us that it is precisely in times like these that leaders of organizations of all sizes must remember to "NEVER WASTE A GOOD CRISIS." According to Professor George, today`s unprecedented economic challenges should not frighten leaders into running for cover. Instead crises should be faced as opportunities for leaders or managers at any level to make the significant, long-term changes they need to position their organizations for lasting, sustainable growth. In 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis, George argues that a crisis can be used to fuel the future by providing the sense of urgency necessary to implement restructuring and other game-changing decisions that are much more difficult to make when times are good.

"There could not be a better testing ground for leaders than the global economic meltdown," writes George. "I believe all the economic misery, financial disasters and millions of lost jobs will produce a new generation of leaders who are battle-tested in crisis and ready to get the global economy pointed in a healthier long-term direction."

As Fortune magazine said in its August 31st review of 7 Lessons, "the root cause of the economic crisis wasn`t subprime mortgages; it was subprime leadership."

To help leaders navigate these difficult times, George offers seven lessons he has learned through his own in-the-trenches leadership as CEO of Medtronic, as well as from the experiences of a wide range of corporate and non-profit leaders profiled in his book.

Those lessons are:
Lesson #1: Face reality, starting with yourself
Lesson #2: Don`t be Atlas: Get the world off your shoulders
Lesson #3: Dig deep for the root cause
Lesson #4: Get ready for the long haul
Lesson #5: Never waste a good crisis
Lesson #6: You`re in the spotlight: Follow True North
Lesson #7: Go on offense: Focus on winning now

On September 17, 2009, Bill George will bring these lessons to life as he moderates a panel of some of today`s most respected leaders at "A SUMMIT ON LEADING IN CRISIS: Personal Stories from the Trenches." Panelists include: eBay CEO, John Donahoe; David Gergen, Director of Harvard`s Center for Public Leadership; former CEO of Xerox, Anne Mulcahy; and, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, former CEO of the Carlson Companies.

About Bill George

Bill George is one of the leading experts on leadership in the world today. He is currently professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, and serves on the boards of directors of ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the World Economic Forum USA.

George was chief executive officer of Medtronic, the world`s leading medical technology company, from 1991 until 2001 and chairman of the board from 1996 to 2002. Under his leadership, Medtronic`s market capitalization grew from $1.1 billion to $60 billion, averaging 35% growth per year.

He is the author of three best-selling books: Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secret of Creating Lasting Value (Jossey-Bass, 2003), True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership with Peter Sims (Jossey-Bass, 2007) and Finding Your True North, A Personal Guide (Jossey-Bass, 2008).

The New York Times called his previous best-seller, True North, one of the most important books on leadership to come along in years.
George has been featured on national television and radio programs, including The Today Show, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Now with David Brancaccio, Charlie Rose, CNN, Bloomberg News and NPR`s All Things Considered and Talk of the Nation. He is a contributor to CNBC and a contributing columnist for WSJ.com and Businessweek.com. His articles have appeared in national print magazines such as Fortune Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and the Harvard Business Review, to name just a few.

For more information about 7 Lessons or the Summit for Leading in Crisis, visit: http://www.billgeorge.org

7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis By Bill George
Jossey-Bass, A Warren Bennis Book Publication Date: September 1, 2009
$19.95; 978-0-470-53187-7; Hardcover

Would you give up work if you became a lottery millionaire?

2009-09-02T03:23:00.000-07:00

Of those working before their win, a third (34%) choose to carry on working with around half (53%) of those even remaining full time.

Of the two thirds who do give up, half (49%) admit they miss work – proving that a life of wealth and luxury clearly is not everything.

It is not all fast cars, luxury holidays and a life of privilege and relaxation for this exclusive club of National Lottery millionaires – some of them also splash their cash on some more unusual purchases.

The survey discovered winners who had bought a seven-foot statue of a giraffe, a signed Robbie Williams disk, rare carp, a vintage tractor needing restoration, a JCB, a parrot, a telescopic forklift, a £1,000 fishing rod, and a castle.

Read more about the 2000 lottery millionaires surveyed by Mori here

Even if you don't win the lottery, you can change the way you live and work - contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach for support, encouragement and guidance on how to live a more balanced life. 01778 561326 coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Laughter, the best medicine

2009-08-14T00:14:00.000-07:00

This morning I read an article that claims as adults we laugh 15 times a day, whereas children under five laugh 300 times a day. Rather than ponder on why this might be, I reckon we just need to smile and laugh more, so here's a few old favourites to bring a smile to your face...

spotted in a toilet of a london office:
toilet out of order. please use floor below

in a laundromat:
automatic washing machines: please remove all your clothes when the light goes out

in a london department store:
bargain basement upstairs

in an office:
would the person who took the step ladder yesterday please bring it back or further steps will be taken

in an office:
after tea break staff should empty the teapot and stand upside down on the draining board

outside a second-hand shop:
we exchange anything - bicycles, washing machines, etc. why not bring your wife along and get a wonderful bargain?

notice in health food shop window:
closed due to illness

spotted in a safari park:
elephants please stay in your car

seen during a conference:
for anyone who has children and doesn't know it, there is a day care on the 1st floor

notice in a farmer's field:
the farmer allows walkers to cross the field for free, but the bull charges

message on a leaflet:
if you cannot read, this leaflet will tell you how to get lessons

on a repair shop door:
we can repair anything. (please knock hard on the door - the bell doesn't work

(with thanks to nesha-india)

Are women still rare at the top in FM?

2009-08-11T06:16:00.001-07:00

"FM has come a long way since the 1980s when it was M&E-led and male-dominated, but women are still underrepresented at the highest levels, according to some of the most prominent females in the industry."

Read my viewpoint in this FM World article...

http://www.fm-world.co.uk/news/fm-industry-news/sector-progresses-but-women-still-rare-at-top/

Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk 07717 787077

Wardrobe personalities

2009-08-05T23:12:00.000-07:00

This week I find myself at Denman college near Oxford, on a 'Dressing with Style' course. The first session last night was fascinating, and covered an area I've never come across before - wardrobe personalities.

This is how it works...

We tend to fall into one of four categories - which one are you?

1. Natural
You dress for comfort; you like practical fabrics (think washable, non-iron etc); you usually wear separates; you wear very few accessories but they work well for you; you wear little make-up; you tend to shop at M&S, Boden etc

2. Romantic
You dress for detail, with trimming and beading; you love accessories and will have loads of shoes, bags, jwewllery etc; grooming is important to you, you always have your hair and make-up done; you love dresses; you like the feel of the fabric; you tend to shop at Monsoon, East, Per Una

3. Dramatic
You like to be unique, individual; you wear a mix of styles; you go for extremes e.g. in your hairstyle or colour, make-up etc; you like vintage shops and often make your own clothes

4. Classic
You go for quality - fabrics and clothes that will last; you tend to be conservative with your clothes, and like classics; you mix and match and feel best in a suit; you tend to shop at Jaegar, Wallis, Max Mara.

Once you know which category you fit into, shopping will never be the same again! These groupings apply to both men and women. There are downsides to each category, for example I fall into 'classic', and it would be good for me to dress up my black trouser suits with some colour - jewellery for example, and perhaps update my make-up.

Much of who we are goes back to how we dressed as children - tomboy or pretty dresses (for the girls)?

Tune in later for more from today's sessions!

Architects, Engineers, Constructors

2009-07-24T05:43:00.000-07:00

This week I attended my first AEC Network meeting - Architects, Engineers, Constructors - at The Building Centre in London. I went along because I wanted to see 'the other side' of the built environment. What do I mean by that? Well, many of you working in FM tell me how tough it is to be a handed a new or refurbished building that a) is impossible to manage in terms of M&E etc and/or b) doesn't meet the needs of the end user.

I was delighted to hear Don Ward of Constructing Excellence http://www.constructingexcellence.org.uk/ suggest that architects might like to run buildings for a year once they are handed over! Don also advocates collaborative working from the very start of a project - so why don't more FMs get involved? Is it because we don't have a 'common language'? You tell me.

The other speaker at the event was Richard White, the Accidental Salesman, who ran an interactive session on Storytelling for business. Amazing; you should check out his website where there are loads of free resources for those among us who are not 'natural salespeople'! http://www.theaccidentalsalesman.com/ One of Richard's first questions was to ask the audience who was in a sales role - and of course, we all are, no matter what we do; we are always 'seliing'.

All in all, a useful and productive meeting, and one I will definitely go to again. Thinking beyond pure FM has given me an insight into the problems others face in our wider sector, and plenty of food for thought!

Let me know your thoughts on networking outside your core business sector coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk and if you'd like some advice on networking for business development call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326

Are you a Woman in FM?

2009-07-15T07:01:00.000-07:00

So, you’re working in FM and you just happen to be a woman – so what? Are things really any different for you than they are for any man working in the same sector? Well, you tell me. Coaching both men and women in FM has led me to believe women have a different perspective on the world of work. Read on and let me know if this sounds familiar...

You’re already successful at what you do but perhaps you feel you haven’t quite met all your goals yet. You ‘sort of’ know what you want, but have never actually sat down and written out some clear goals, not just for your career, but for your future. Sometimes, even though no-one around you would know, you have moments of self-doubt, when that little voice in your head says, ‘I wonder if they’ll realise I don’t know the technical spec for this,’ or ‘being a manager is really hard work’, or ‘just for once it’d be nice if my team was appreciated a bit more’.

Now might be the right time for you to decide what you really want, in all aspects of life, including:
• Career
• Finances
• Relationships
• Health
• Personal growth
• Contribution/giving back

In your ideal world, how do all these areas balance? Are you currently spending too much time on work (and I don’t just mean when you are at work) and not enough time with people who are important to you? Do you keep your ‘phone or PDA on all weekend even if someone else is duty manager? What message does that give your family? Might they think they come second to your work? And what message does it give your team? Might they think you don’t trust them?

Of course it’s important as a manager to lead, direct and reward your team, but what about you? On ‘planes they tell us, ’fit your own mask first before helping others’ and this is true at work too. If you are overworked because you’re so busy taking care of everyone else, what happens?

So, what can you do about it? Here are some ideas you may like to consider:
1. Find a role model – someone who has been there and done it. Find out what they do that works, and try it yourself. Find out where they go to network and learn, and go there. Find out who they mix with, and mix with them too. Find out what they read, and read it.
2. Join industry networking events and online groups who will share their experiences – both successes and challenges. Check out the Women in FM special interest group at www.bifm.org.uk
3. Surround yourself with a peer group that supports and inspires you. These don’t have to be people within the industry, but choose your company carefully – you want people who exude warmth, not people who drain all the energy from you.
4. Become a mentor. Yes, but Liz you’ve just told us to become more balanced, isn’t this more work? No, this is about giving back, and many people I work with find this incredibly rewarding.
5. Find a coach. Coaching will help you build knowledge, skill and capability and enhance performance, and can be focused on your current job, and/or on an anticipated future role.
My last thought, directed to both men and women working in the sector, is:

Imagine how much more successful you could be if you invested some time in discovering your true potential and regaining the balance in your life.

Liz Kentish The FM Coach is the expert in the field of people development in the FM sector – for a free no obligation assessment of your skills and career options, contact coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk 07717 787077

What people had to say about my training...

2009-06-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

As an advocate of feedback, I wanted to share some comments from delegates at the SW Region training day last week. I gave two training sessions, one on 'Asking effective questions', and the other on 'Solutions not problems'.

Here's what they said...

It was Useful
Self-reflecting
Feedback from people who don't know us
Strengths
Common problems and solutions
Confidence boosters
Learning about yourself
Reinforcement
Focus
Knowledge, ideas, solutions

It was Interesting
Common interests
Similarities
Shared
Honesty
Insight into others
How to elicit information

It was Surprising
Speed!
Positive and contagious
Friendly
Open
Analyse others
Excited
Similarities

If you'd like a copy of the training information I used, simply e-mail Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

First recognition award for the Women in FM special interest group

2009-06-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

As the new Chair of Women in FM, I was very proud this evening to collect the first ever BIFM award for ‘Best Sector Forum/Special Interest Group’ on behalf of Women in FM.

You can find out more about the group, and the events we are running, at www.bifm.org.uk or call Liz Kentish The FM Coach for more details 07717 787077 coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

The Things That Stop Most People Presenting in Public & How to Overcome Them

2009-06-08T01:37:00.000-07:00

Gerald R. Ford said "If I went back to college again, I'd concentrate on two areas: learning to write and learning to speak before an audience. Nothing in life is more important than the ability to communicate effectively."

Public speaking is the number one skill that's guaranteed to position you head and shoulders above the competition, yet it's frequently overlooked, according to female speaker, Patricia Fripp.

My own take on having the ability to give presentations is that it's probably the single most powerful thing you can learn to do that gives you the ammunition to say "If I can do that, I can do anything".

If you've ever marvelled at the abilities of a great presenter, the clever use of words to draw pictures, the confidence and charisma that exudes from the platform and the awe in which they are held, you'll agree with the above statements.

So why is it that when it comes to attending training courses, presentation skills are not the automatic first port of call? Could it be to do with that oft quoted (probably misquoted) statistic that speaking in public is feared more than death? Let's not go into an examination of quite how ridiculous that would be if it were true. After all, how many of you would really swap places with the guy in the coffin if you were asked to speak at a funeral?

There's no doubt that public presenting can get the old palms sweating, but given the benefits you'll get when you know you can do it well, it really shouldn't stop you. Let's examine the causes of nerves so you lay your fears to rest and get this most important of abilities added to your arsenal of talents, shall we?

First, examine why you're nervous. There's always a reason for nerves so examine what the reasons are so you can deal with the cause and go a long way to eliminating the symptom. Note that I say "go a long way to eliminating", the chances are that you'll always feel some nervousness which is when you need to remember that nerves are your friends because they keep your senses sharp & show that you want to do well.

Even seasoned performers suffer from stage fright, some had it so bad they could barely perform. Fortunately, the thought is usually worse than the task. Once you get started, you'll often find that your nervousness will disappear. I liken it to knowing that you're about to tackle a drive round London's Hyde Park Corner or Paris's Arc de Triomphe in rush hour. Thinking about it really freaks you out but when you're in the middle of it, you're too busy concentrating on not hitting anyone that it's only afterwards you get to think "Wow, I made it in one piece."

Some of the most common reasons I've found for people suffering from nerves are these:

Worry about forgetting what you're going to say

Worry that the audience will think you're a fraud

Worry about saying the wrong thing and offending somebody

Worry that someone will ask a question to which you don't know the answer

Worry that you'll get a dry mouth or get tongue tied

Worry that you'll finish too soon or run long

Some of the less common ones I've heard were "I'm worried in case there's a fire alarm halfway through my talk" and "I'm worried that the hem on my trousers will unravel in front of everyone whilst I'm speaking."

I could dismiss all these are "silly" or "invalid" and tell you that none of them will ever happen, but the fact is that they often will. (Yes, even the trouser hem thing's happened to me!). Looking down the list, you can see that there's a lot you can do to avoid these situations occurring: being well prepared, stating your qualifications in your introduction, knowing your subject matter inside and out, timing yourself several times during rehearsals, and so on (sorry, I don't have a magic bean to disable fire bells during speeches).

But so what if any of them still come to pass? What's the worst that can happen? Well it's not life or death, you know. You have to learn to keep your fears in perspective. And remember, the audience wants you to succeed. Nobody enjoys a bad speech.

Do what you can to be prepared and don't let fear of speaking stop you from gaining that most revered of all skills, the one that will impact every area of your personal and business life. Give yourself the very best opportunity of succeeding and you'll find the rewards are massive.

Do you have a major presentation coming up? For guidance and support call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 07717 787077 or coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Author Bio
Maria Davies is the UK's most successful female sales presenter who trains others to overcome their public speaking fears and use presentation skills to increase the audience share for their product or service by around 91%. Find out more about forthcoming seminars, worldwide e-trainings or speaker bookings at www.laddersofsuccess.com

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com - Free Website Content

A bit of fun - got your thinking hat on?

2009-05-29T01:03:00.000-07:00

Last week I was facilitating the Professional Facilities Manager 2, on behalf of BIFM Training, and the topic came up - 'what do you call a group of FMs?'

So the search is on for a suitable collective noun. Here's what the delegates came up with:

A...

Cluster
Worry
Whinge
Solution
Challenge
Frustration
Rush
Madness
Faculty
Stress

...of FMs.

What do you think? Please take a moment to comment on this blog and add your own ideas.

Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

An exciting new role from 1 June

2009-05-26T02:04:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled that from next week I will be taking over as Chair of Women in FM (WiFM), which is a special interest group run for the benefit of BIFM members (www.bifm.org.uk)

Our aim as a group is to promote women within the FM sector throughout the United Kingdom, to encourage them to join the industry, to develop their careers and to provide networking groups at which knowledge and ideas can be shared. All BIFM members, women and men, are welcome to join us at our planned forums throughout the year throughout the country. In order to meet as much of our target audience as possible, these are held in both the afternoons and the evenings.

People in the industry with experiences to share tell their stories at forums across the UK. The forums encourage open discussion around subjects that are pertinent to everyone involved and there is often the opportunity for a building tour led by the Facilities Manager at the venue.

Want to find out more? Email me coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 07717 787077

Facilities Management – Women's Perspective

2009-05-19T02:44:00.000-07:00

Women are severely under represented in the construction industry - our latest research has shown that there is a high demand for more communication channels between them” Dr Lisa Worrell (Salford University).

This event will introduce the topic of women and Facilities Management (FM), how women employed in the construction industry can engage with each other and why FM offers greater opportunities and is more appealing than related sectors.

Discussions will focus on the relevant issues such as the benefits and opportunities for women in FM, the barriers faced. There will also be an opportunity to talk about questions such as Is it right to have women-focused events? Why is this effective? What are the proven benefits?

Liz Kentish The FM Coach will be presenting her viewpoint - What works? - and exploring the evidence on how women and men network differently.

Book now for this workshop on 3 June 2009 in London.

Managing effective meetings

2009-04-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

If you are responsible for running meetings, and aren’t quite sure how best to go about creating an effective meeting experience, here are a few key steps to successful meeting management.

1. Meet with a purpose
If you ask most people, they have been to one too many meetings that seemed (whether or not accurately so) to have no purpose. Be sure to call a meeting only if you have a clear reason for doing so. It doesn’t matter what your reason might be. If you need information from the group, set a clear agenda with key questions ahead of time.

If you want to share information, draft an outline of your key points. If you just want to get the team together to allow for bonding time, then organise it so that you have the right environment.

2. Communicate your purpose/agenda
So, you know why you’re meeting, now, tell everyone else why you are. Be sure to let all attendees know how long the meeting will be, where it will be, and what information is to be covered.

Be sure to let them also know what the goal of the meeting is—what deliverables, outcomes, etc. are expected so they can come prepared. Just because you’ve called the meeting doesn’t mean you’re the only one who has to do the talking.

Enable them to participate — sharing relevant information ahead of time, will ensure they come prepared to contribute, and take the spotlight off of you at the same time!

3. Supporting materials
Come prepared with the appropriate supporting materials. If this is an information gathering session, bring forms or tools for completion. Presentation? Bring slides/handouts, etc. Whatever will support communication of your key points, gathering of the required information, or structuring of the discussion should be included to create a stronger sense that everyone’s time is being well spent.

4. Everyone present for a purpose
Please ensure that every single individual invited to the meeting is there for a reason. And, more importantly, that each attendee clearly understands his/her specific role.

When planning your meeting consider team members’ roles. How can they contribute? Do they have key information, skills, experience that you can leverage in the meeting? Help them feel useful by letting them know the important role you’d like them to play.

Also helpful in running effective meetings, is to assign meeting management roles before you begin the meetings. Some specific meeting facilitation roles might include:
Scribe: to record key information, and meeting minutes
Flipchart recorder: to capture key points, questions visually on flipcharts
Timekeeper: to help keep to the agenda

5. Outcomes/agreements captured and reviewed
Before you end the meeting, review the agreed upon action items, along with the responsible parties for each item as discussed during the meeting. If you’ve assigned meeting scribes or flipchart recorders, then this step should be relatively simple.

6. Next steps defined
Discuss roundabout timeframes for completion of action items, and also make sure to review next steps. Set expectations now for a follow-up meeting, should one be required. Let everyone know what you anticipate will need to be covered in the next meeting.

7. Show your appreciation
Every single person’s time is precious. So, be sure to thank them for their participation and contributions. Motivate key participants by letting them know after the meeting just how helpful their contributions were during the meeting. This will help to ensure that next time you need to have a meeting, you’ll find willing participants ready to go.

8. Reflect on your process
Identify what went well, and what didn’t.

Send your burning questions about managing meetings to Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk for a personal response.

Networking groups for those of you in FM

2009-04-16T08:41:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of online groups you might like to join, which encourage networking, discussions, posting of events etc.

FM Club

Women in FM

Now, more than ever, is time to think about having an online presence, raise your profile, and help others by sharing your knowledge and experience.

For more ideas on your personal brand, contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk 07717 787077

Take some time out

2009-03-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

In the final of the World Logging Championships two loggers competed to see who could fell the most timber between 8.00a.m. and 4.00p.m. They set to with attitude and seemed to chop stroke for stroke until Peter stopped at ten to 9.00. Sensing his chance Paul redoubled his efforts. At 9.00 Paul heard Peter start to chop again. They seemed to chop stroke for stroke until at ten to 10 Peter stopped again. Once again Paul redoubled his efforts. At the stroke of 10.00 Peter started chopping again. And so it went on through the whole day. At 4.00 when the final whistle blew Paul was supremely confident that the prize was his. You can imagine how surprised he was to discover he had lost. “How did you do that?” he asked Peter. “Every hour I heard you stop. How could you have cut more timber than me? It just isn’t possible.”

“It’s very simple” replied Peter. “Every hour at ten to the hour, I stopped. While you continued to cut I was sharpening my axe.”

Taking time out, even it it’s only to take a few deep breaths, makes you more effective.

Send your burning questions about time management to Liz Kentish The FM Coach for a personal response

Please vote!

2009-03-26T03:11:00.000-07:00

I have a short poll running on LinkedIn and would really like to hear from you if you are responsible for an FM team. Click here to vote.

Thanks for taking the time to vote!

So what is a Personal Brand?

2009-03-20T03:38:00.000-07:00

I hear more and more about 'personal branding' and recently I've attended workshops and presentations where they talk in detail about colours, appearance and so on.

I wonder if this is all it's about? Having spoken to some of my training and coaching clients, we feel it goes even deeper than this - it's about our values as individuals, and about authenticity - being more of who we naturally are, rather than trying to conform to some 'ideal' within our organisations.

What do you think? I'm keen to know how your perceive 'personal brand' so please do add your comments....or contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

How things change!

2009-02-24T03:32:00.000-08:00

Facilitating a 3-day FM programme this week, I am hearing more and more that suddenly FM is becoming high profile. Why? Two reasons:

1. People believe FM roles are relatively secure in the current economic climate, and
2. Our organisations are starting to understand the impact FM has on corporate strategy.

FM is a profession that should be held in high esteem, but which, until now, has largely been overlooked. You know how it is, no-one knows who you are when things are going well (and you rarely get thanks for it!), but once things go wrong (no heating, wrong coffee, someone's parked in the CEO's parking space...) everyone knows your name and your mobile number!

So, what's the answer? As your profile will be raised anyway when things go awry, why not focus on raising it anyway, letting people know when things are running smoothly? Publish your KPI results widely, not just to your boss and /or client, and perhaps use charts to demonstrate your performance - Transport for London do it for their tube lines and bus routes, and it's done them the world of good! Show how the FM services you provide support the overall business strategy - show clear links, how FM can be the foundation stones, how the business really cannot do without it.

This will start to deal with any lack of understanding about FM and its diverse services, and in turn will help turn around any lack of recognition.

Send your burning questions about raising the profile of FM to Liz Kentish The FM Coach, coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call 07717 787077

Be More Persuasive

2009-02-20T08:53:00.000-08:00

I heard on the news that Oprah Winfrey’s school for girls in South Africa has an oratorium. Why? It’s because she feels that leaders and influencers need to have good speaking skills. Whether you’re speaking to 1 or 100, I couldn’t agree more.

Public speaking is one of the quickest ways to establish credibility as an entrepreneur. It’s also one of the biggest phobias most human beings have. So for the moment, let’s forget about giving a planned, formal presentation to an audience.

Public speaking encompasses many other opportunities to establish credibility. Think about it. We’re formulating opinions of fellow entrepreneurs every day, based on those experiences. When and where?

At committee meetings, volunteer groups, boards, public forums, with co-workers, with a boss, with customers, networking events, luncheons, trade shows, and informal meetings. (OK, you get my drift.) Just remember that a big part of an entrepreneur’s brand and image are influenced by how a person presents him/herself in each of those settings.

There are two different ways we make that impression. One way is through the choice of words and the delivery of a well thought-out position. The second, and more powerful influence is the speaker’s level of passion, conviction, and sincerity. To give you a great example of the power of conviction and passion, consider this excerpt from Tony Robbins’ The Power to Shape your Destiny . “When two people meet, if there’s rapport, if there’s a feeling of mutual respect and trust… if one person is more certain than the other, that person will eventually influence the other person’s feelings.” Pretty powerful stuff, if you think about it. By having a stronger sense of conviction, belief, and passion, you can persuade someone. Because you must establish trust and rapport, of course there is the need for sincerity. Think of what happens when sincerity is NOT present. The minute someone starts bragging or arrogance creeps in, we tune out. We assume that in future dealings that person will be looking out for them self. Call me old-fashioned, but I know there are some powerful people out there who are humble and genuinely interested in the well being of others. So those are the type of people we should choose to surround ourselves with and rely on.

That said, as long as you’re sincere and have conviction I believe you’ll have more credibility and will be more persuasive than the passion-less person who might put together a more articulate argument.

Here are a few tips for being persuasive:

Tip #1: Be sincere, be genuine, and don’t worry about how you’re going to come across. (I think this also helps to relax us, making it even easier to formulate our thoughts.) As long as we speak from our hearts, we’ll be powerful.

Tip #2 If you’re fearful of speaking, start small. But do practice. Start with your introduction or “elevator speech”. Practice on coworkers, friends, significant other, kids or the dog. Anybody who will listen!

Tip #3: Be likeable. Smile, and let your passion shine through. Of course, you don’t want a silly grin on your face the whole time. But the idea is to make yourself approachable. You want to connect with your listeners.

Tip #4: Appreciate your listeners’ time and don’t drone on. There’s an old quote that says, “Be accurate! Be brief! And then be seated!” I can remember being at a networking meeting where everyone had 30 seconds for a quick introduction. Most took more than their share of time. What was fascinating is that I had several people come up to me afterwards, simply based on my brief introduction. They appreciated the fact that I kept it short, I sounded confident yet approachable, and I whet their appetite with just one tidbit of info that had them asking for more.

Tip #5: Believe it! I’ve seen people speak with so little conviction that I wondered if they truly believed what they were proposing. If you don’t believe it deep down in your heart, no one else will. Just remind yourself of the wonderful value you’re offering, and how much your listener needs the information you’re about to share.

I’ve covered just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to being a more persuasive communicator. But even a modest improvement in each of the five areas above will result in a dramatic change in your results. Try it!

Looking for a keynote FM speaker? Call Liz Kentish on 01778 561326 / 07717 787077 or e-mail coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/leadership-articles/be-more-persuasive-779485.html

About the Author:
Pat Price has worked with numerous clients to generate more business and boost their marketing effectiveness. She is a professional speaker and president of The Price Group, Inc, a full-service marketing firm serving small to mid-sized organizations. To receive Pat’s free Marketing Tips! newsletter, go to www.PatPriceSpeaks.com/Resources.php . She can be reached at 630.717.8332 or through her website at www.ThePriceGroup.biz.

Effective conversations that work

2009-02-11T07:48:00.000-08:00

Success in FM is about different disciplines working together in a collaborative way.

To be effective, we need conversations that work. This means, we have to engage people in our conversations.

Yes, but Liz, we’re busy people and we don’t have the time!

It’s precisely when we don’t have the time that we need to ensure our communications are two-way, effective, and concise.

There are some fundamental emotional desires that people seek to have met in the workplace:

They want to be included and valued – this happens when they get recognition
They want to be competent – this happens when they are in control of their work
They want to be accepted – this happens when they are liked by their colleagues
They want different conversations that go somewhere, that inspire them and make them think!

When these desires are thwarted – or even when a person thinks that they might be – they are likely to feel angry, hurt, disappointed, sad, afraid, frustrated, rejected, resentful, ashamed. I don’t know about you, but I prefer not to work with people like that.

We need to be seeking out strengths, capabilities, possiblities, potential, and we can do this through simple questions like:
What do you want instead?
What else would improve as a result?
When have you overcome something similar?
What knowledge, experience, resources do you already have to help?
What will you do differently as a result of having reached the goal?
What might be the first small step?

Want to know more? Email coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk for your free Practical FM Guide - Effective conversations for high performance

Is snow reason enough to work from home?

2009-02-03T05:23:00.000-08:00

The Federation of Small Businesses estimated 20% of the UK's working population, or 6.4 million people, did not make it to work. South-east England had the worst snow it has seen for 18 years, causing all London buses to be pulled from service and the closure of Heathrow's runways.

In the FM environment, we need to be prepared for every eventuality, and ensuring your organisation has remote facilities for staff is one way to keep things running. More and more staff are being encouraged to work from home, but this does make some business leaders uncomfortable. Why? It's that T word again - Trust.

A recent poll by City & Guilds confirmed that many British managers were very uncomfortable with the idea of staff working from home, and were far happier dealing with people in the office. Is it because management techniques have not kept up with technological advances?

Of the employers who offer working from home, only 8% believe home-workers are less productive than their office-bound colleagues, while 30% say they are more productive. The remainder of employers say home-working makes no difference to productivity.

We know that home-working helps us save on space costs, but in return we need to consider our management style, health and safety issues and communication amongst other things. Let's not ignore the trend for working from home because it just seems to difficult to manage!

For a 30 minute laser conversation on managing your employees effectively, call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 or e-mail coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk with your burning questions about managing your people.

Creating and managing high performing remote teams

2009-01-23T05:31:00.000-08:00

It’s tough enough managing the people you see every day. The challenges of getting things done from a distance, whether that means different sites or different countries, can cause even the most experienced manager sleepless nights. Geography can be the key enemy of great leadership.

Let’s remind ourselves of some of the ‘stories’ we hear about remote teams.
• They’re not interested in the company
• They TUPE’d over – they didn’t really want to work for us!
• They just want to come to work, do their job, then go home
• They don’t have access to computers, so there’s no point communicating with them
• I can’t manage them from a distance
• Their local manager/supervisor knows what s/he is doing
• I don’t have time to go driving all over the country/flying around the world
• It’s different in the North/Middle East/United States/EMEA etc
• They are too busy for me to go interfering
• I can’t afford to pay for team briefings, training , flights etc
• The client is happy with their performance, so I don’t need to worry about them

How much easier would life be if you were able to manage them more effectively, keep them motivated, reduce churn and increase productivity? You don’t need a magic wand, just some simple, practical tips.

It takes special Leadership skills to successfully manage remote teams.

1. Trust and honesty – trust your local manager/supervisor and their teams – every single one of them. Answer their questions honestly and address tough issues as soon as possible. Don’t be tempted to rely on those based in your building to do the lion’s share of the work, or the most urgent jobs – share the workload fairly. Establish your team-specific “ground rules” - these are the unwritten rules that guide how work gets done in your team. For examples, do you have an open door policy? How are suggestions for improvements to be made? How does communication work amongst team members?

2. Clarity – ensure they all understand their objectives. As far as possible, allocate short-term projects, so you can tell early on if the work is on track. Any change within the team - be it to responsibilities, new ways of working, additions to or loss of staff - may mean that established, well-functioning teams sometimes revert to a stage where their roles, responsibilities and objectives need to be reviewed and re-clarified. As their manager, it is imperative that you take the lead in defining these roles and responsibilities early on.

3. Focus on results. You need to measure the output from individuals and local teams, rather than processes. This also allows you to intervene quickly if you spot the early signs of under-performance. Encourage people to take small actions so they don’t become overwhelmed. Check in regularly with their progress.

4. Communication - understand their styles of communication, learning, managing, motivation – and adapt yours to suit them.

5. Feedback – are you catching them doing things right? Start every contact you have with a simple question ‘what’s been going well?’ and listen actively to their responses.
The keys to giving great feedback are:
• Give praise publicly, give criticism in private
• Be sincere
• Choose your timing carefully – do it as soon as you can after the event
• Ask for self-assessment
• Focus on specifics and don’t mix it with other messages
• Limit feedback to a few important points.

6. Role model – consistently demonstrate the behaviours you want to see in your teams, starting with the ‘T’ word - trust. Do you want them to speak positively about the company, the Client, their work? Then you must, too – all the time, to everyone you interact with.

7. Networking – build relationships with key people who can help you manage – the supervisor/manager, the receptionist, security guards, key communicators within the team. Find common interests at all levels of the wider team and help people work more closely by sharing knowledge. Find yourself a mentor – someone who has been there and done it – and learn both from their successes and the challenges they faced.

8. Use technology – use simple methods of communicating that will make your people feel they are in the same building as you – instant messaging, tele- and video-conferencing, webinars, intranet sites, or shared systems such as SharePoint or Meeting Place. If you are working with an international team, it is useful to have interpreters on hand and to be aware of cultural differences.

Communication is the glue that holds teams together; this is even more relevant when your team is dispersed. Not everyone is comfortable with the ‘virtual world’, so you might need to make yourself available by ‘phone on a regular basis at a time to suit them, or perhaps send them a printed newssheet. When a new person joins the team, make every effort to meet them in person – it will make your life easier later on. Your people will form their impressions not just on the words they read or hear, but also on the tone of the message and non-verbal signals. Don’t assume you know what works best for them – ask. After all, people are not inspired by words they cannot hear.

Speak to Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 for more management solutions for your high performing teams or e-mail your burning questions to coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk for a personal response

Business nightmares and how to recover from them

2009-01-22T01:43:00.000-08:00

Last night I went along to the Entrepreneurs' Masterclass held at the British Library. You would recognise at least one of the speakers - Rachel Elnaugh (Dragons' Den).

The event was publicised like this:

'Are you weighing up the risks of an entrepreneurial future? Do you have concerns that an economic downturn will affect your chances of success?

Starting a business is always a huge test of determination and stamina. In this economic climate, special skills are required. To stand the best chance of success, entrepreneurs must have the resilience to confront and overcome challenges, as well as having the vision for success.

'Business Nightmares@ is a unique chance to hear how a panel of highly successful entrepreneurs survived the toughest times and built business success on the back of the lessons learned.'

And it delivered every part of that!

Here are the key points I took from the event, in terms of avoiding business nightmares:

You need clear management information
Ask for help
It's not ideas that make a business, it's the execution of them
Most entrepreneurs have a psychotic optimisim!
Focus on giving your customer what they really want
Act swiftly
Now is a good time to be in business, remember Disney and Hewlett Packard both started their businesses in the depression

You're at your most vulnerable when you're doing well - this was the 'golden nugget' for me, and I'm sure this applies to every business model.

Many FMs right now are saying 'it's a good time for FM. Client organisations are outsourcing because they need to reduce costs, and that business is coming to us'. But let's not become complacent, remembering what Rachel says 'You're at your most vulnerable when you're doing well'.

Call Liz Kentish The FM Coach today for an assessment of your organisation's capabilities and vulnerabilities 01778 561326 or e-mail coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Youth Coaching - how we're making a real difference

2009-01-20T01:03:00.000-08:00

Last year a good friend of mine Harry Singha, asked if I would become a sponsor of his his new youth coaching community programme. I agreed of course, because the aim is to provide peer coaching in all communities.

What is a Community Coaching Programme?

Here a Community may be defined as a group that serves young people. This maybe a school, youth centre, or defined by geography, such as a town or city.

The programme has three key stages

1) Essential Youth Coaching Skills certificate programme for all members of the community to attend. One day programme - worth over £3,000

Delivered at a venue within the host community on a day suitable for them (£ priceless)!

2) Accredited Youth Coaching training for up to 10 members of the community including young people and a few adults. Five days training then twelve months home study and assessment period, leading to a level 2 (GCSE equivalent) or level 3 (post diploma) accreditation with the Open College Network (OCN) and the Youth Coaching Academy - worth over £30,000

Delivered at a venue within the host community on days suitable for them (£ priceless)!

3) Twelve months support to create the systems to deliver a sustainable and effective Youth and Youth Peer Coaching Service - worth over £5,000

The community gets all this for just £100, because we are funding it.

The Youth Coaching Academy http://www.youthcoachingacademy.com has been training young people and those who work with them to become professionally trained and accredited as youth coaches since 2002 and has projects in over seven countries.

Yesterday I spent the day with Harry in Newham, along with young people, teachers, youth workers and other entrepreneurs - it's amazing to see the impact a few hours can make! One young man I was working with set himself some realistic small goals, towards his dream of becoming well-known for his jazz music, another girl told me how she can use her new skills with her young cousins, both of whom have ADHD.

If you'd like to get involved in any way in supporting us, please call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 or email coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

How to Build Trust and Develop Relationships with Clients and Employees That Last a Lifetime

2009-01-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

When it comes to customer loyalty, nothing is more important than the trust you develop with your customers. Research from Texas A & M University says if customers see you as being trustworthy and reliable ... and if customers see you fulfilling your promises … then they will become enthusiastic customers for life.

The same is true with your co-workers. If your employees see you telling the truth, even when it's not easy or comfortable to do so then you'll build an incredible bond of trust with them. And with that bond of trust will come more cooperation and motivation.

The lesson is clear. If you want your customers to remain loyal, you must earn and keep their trust. If you want a stronger team at work, you have to build a foundation of trust.

So trust is your ultimate competitive advantage.

Now, how do you build or re-build trust?

4 Ways to Build Trust, Gain Loyalty & Retain Employees and Customers for Life

1. Assume the best about your employees and customers

When something goes wrong, or when the other person disappoints you, start by assuming the best. Don't immediately jump into the fray, pound your desk, froth at the mouth, and demand to know why your employees or customers did something so stupid.

Instead, honor the other person. Rather than focus on WHO's to blame for what went wrong, focus on WHAT can be done about it. That takes the focus off the past and off the other person. It puts the focus onto the future where the two of you can work together.

Besides, if you jump in too quickly, blaming someone for what happened, you'll often embarrass yourself. You may find out that you're really the one to blame for the problem that occurred.

2. Stick up for your customers or employees when they're in the right

You build trust when you speak out on someone's behalf, especially when it's not politically popular or interpersonally comfortable. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "In the end we will not remember the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends."

I'll never forget the time I chaired the task force of a charitable organization. Over a period of time, it came to my attention that the organization had misused funds on several occasions. My task force members urged me to confront the Board and document my findings. They would be there to back me up.

I did that, but not one of the task force members backed me up when the top leaders lashed out in defense and aggression. If nothing else, I learned that Dr. King was right. It was the silence of my "friends" that I remember the most today.

3. Refuse to gossip

There's something very alluring, and maybe even a little satisfying, about sharing a negative tidbit. It may make you feel a bit superior, but you've got to fight the urge to add to the gossip and the people bashing that may go on in the company cafeteria or behind a customer's back. You just can't do it.

The reason is simple.

Negative gossip almost always gets back to the person you are discussing. That's just the nature of juicy, negative, sensationalized news. And to make matters worse, the version that gets back to the person you discussed is almost always worse than the version you shared.

4. Keep your promises

Nothing destroys trust faster than failing to keep your promises.

Think about it. No one ever forgets a promise. You tell your child you'll take her to the amusement park, and she'll remind you fifteen times that "you promised."

You tell a colleague that you'll get back to him, and he sees it as a promise. You tell a client, that an assignment will be finished by tomorrow and she sees it as a promise. And it doesn't work to go back to them and say you forgot or you got busy. In their minds, you broke your promise, and the trust between the two of you is damaged.

So, if you want to build trust, the solution is simple. Keep your promises.

A final thought

Don't get discouraged, if you're in the process of building or re-building trust in a relationship. Trust takes time.

Just as it takes more than one block to build a fortress, it takes more than one action to build trust. It takes a lot of blocks, put down … over time … to get the results you want. It works the same way when you're building trust. Go ahead and use the four trust building blocks I've just given you and you will:

- Become a better leader and manager
- Retain your employees – (Don't forget … high employee turn-over = higher costs)
- Keep your customers who want to buy from you over and over again for life
- Achieve more than you ever thought possible

And, it's all because trust is the "ultimate competitive advantage."

Want to get started but not sure how? Call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 / 07717 787077 for genuine support and advice.
E-mail coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

About the author:
Best-selling author and Hall of Fame professional speaker, Dr.Alan Zimmerman has transformed more than a million people into better managers and leaders in the office and in the marketplace. For even more tips on how to build relationships with employees and customers that last a lifetime go to http://www.DrZimmerman.com and get his free e-book that's filled with his most popular articles.

Article Source: http://www.Free-Articles-Zone.com

Green Energy UK

2009-01-04T07:54:00.000-08:00

The latest reports regarding the use of "green" eco-friendly power have given some surprising, but pleasant, information on the subject of the United Kingdoms fuel habits since last year.

Money put into green power this year has hit £75 Billion, which is an increase of a massive 60% from the previous years UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report. The statement goes on to say that a continuing increase of oil prices, concerns over climate change and energy supplies and better promotion from the government are behind the rise of usage.

The methods most favoured by the public are wind power and solar power, with more people than ever are setting up personal wind generators and solar panels on their homes.

The UNEP has forecasted that by 2012 around £280 Billion will be spent each year on projects improving and developing already existing green energy ventures, and even expect it to double by 2020.

Most of the current investments have been supplied to Europe and the United States. However there are more projects being targeting to China, India and Brazil being progressed.

Unfortunately the wind power developers have suffered during the first few months of this year, as due to the credit markets becoming coming tighter, they were unable to finance themselves. However the rest of the green energy spectrum had continued to grow and become stronger.

There is much in the pipeline for this area of business too, with a lot of governments within the EU and America confident that many businesses will take advantage of the growing awareness of fossil fuels rapidly running out, and seizing the businesses opportunities while the media and general public are concentrating on it. This in turn will of course help the planet as a whole as green energy will become not only more popular but more accessible too.

This past month, the United Kingdoms energy minister, Malcolm Wicks has stated that the whole of Britain would undergo a "Green revolution" and that the government plans to fit a quarter of new homes with solar panels and erect "thousands" of new wind turbines.

With gas and electricity prices continuing to rise, it is good news that the government plan to ensure the UK has renewable sources of electricity and utilities.

The FM Industry certainly has a role to play in promoting efficient energy sources - what are you doing in your area? Contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach to talk more about best practice in FM - call 07717 787077 or coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_Quirk

First Impressions Count More in the Credit Crunch Era

2008-12-11T07:25:00.000-08:00

Do you think about how you dress at work and carefully select your outfit depending on your working environment? Or do you think it doesn't matter and simply put on any outfit which is to hand?

Perhaps, you should know that your attitude to work can be gleaned from how you dress? So, if you look sloppy and unkempt others will assume that this is also your attitude to your work. Why is this? In today's tough times when jobs are scarce and we need to do all we can to hang on to our employment, read on to find out how can you adapt it to your advantage? You have 30 seconds to make a 1st impression which can last up to 15 years.

Think about the last time you met someone new, albeit in a social or business environment. Do you recall how they spoke to you, the tone of their voice? Do you remember exactly what they said? Or do you remember what they wore? Recall a time when you've been watching a politician, presenter on the television and you've commented on the colour of the tie or the wrinkled shirt or some other slip up on their appearance. Or imagine if you were seeking the advice of a lawyer and were met by someone in jeans and a casual shirt. Or if you arrived at the car mechanic's and he was dressed in a suit. Would you take either of them seriously?

Whether we like it or not, we are all judged on our appearance. Research by Professor Albert Mehrabian (his book Silent Messages) shows that 55 per cent of our first impression comes from our behaviour and appearance. 38 per cent of the sound of our voice are remembered from the first 30 seconds while only 7 per cent of what we say will make any impact. So, be aware that 93% of how you come across has nothing to do with what you are saying. What about the time you walked into a local store requiring advice, only to be confronted by a sales assistant whose hair was a mess, who looked scruffy and unkempt. Did you approach them for advice or did you seek out another member of staff? The first staff member you encountered may have been the most knowledgeable but his appearance portrayed an attitude of 'I don't care' and so you are very likely to have wanted to look for someone who appeared tidy and therefore portraying a more professional image. How can you use this knowledge to your advantage?

It is known that after communication skills, the next most important element that CEOs and HR executives consider when making a new appointment, is a candidate's personal image. This includes grooming, dress and manners. By dressing well and looking appropriate for your workplace, you will alert those around you as someone who means business and is serious about their job. For example, if are attending a client meeting dressed appropriately, the client sees immediately that you respect them. But secondly, you are also giving yourself confidence. If you were to imagine attending the same meeting dressed in your swim wear, you won't feel so confident.

Here are some key tips on making your image work for you in your workplace to ensure you make the right first impression; Make sure you fit in. Research the company you are visiting or look to your bosses for dress code clues. This will ensure you are dressing appropriately. As we've discussed above, your image says most about you as a person and your attitude to work. So, take pride in your appearance - make sure clothes are well maintained and your grooming is impeccable. Dress for the job you want and not for the job you have. This will show your bosses or interviewer that you are serious about your work. Add variety to your working wardrobe. Don't always wear the same shirt and tie combination or the same blouse. It will be noticed and be viewed as non flexible and lazy. Ensure your accessories are of the best quality you can afford. Eg: briefcase, business card holder, cufflinks. These are the finer details and are noticed. Ladies, do wear make-up. It shows you can manage your time well and also enhances your eyes and mouth - your key communication portals. Men, don't forget a belt on your trousers. A belt is as important a part of your outfit as a tie. Smile!! With your polished look, the best additional accessory is to smile as this shows you are confident and approachable. The upshot is that you should always think carefully about what you wear. If you are dressed appropriately you will feel comfortable, have positive body language and be noticed by the powers that be. If you are unsure of how to dress appropriately for your workplace, visit your local Style Consultant who will help you become the best dressed person you can.

For help with your career during these tough times, call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 or for more information click here

Sarah Gray is a Senior Image Consultant with Colour Me Beautiful Image Consultants. Located in Warwickshire, Sarah offers advice on all aspects of personal image.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Gray

The Professional FM

2008-12-04T02:49:00.000-08:00

BIFM Training asked me to facilitate this three-day course recently in London. As I already run their Resolving Communication Problems course, I already know of the high quality training that BIFM Training provides, and was delighted to take on this role. This programme is intended for public and private sector staff with a minimum of two years’ management experience, who want to focus on improving their performance through developing more effective relationships.

Over the three days seven other experts from the FM sector shared their knowledge and expertise in these areas:
• Techniques for Performance Improvement in FM
• Key issues of Commercial Awareness
• How to optimise and develop staff and skills
• How to develop effective relationships with Suppliers & Specialists
• The essentials of Relationship Management
• Information & Knowledge Management using IT and Technology
• How to improve Personal Effectiveness in FM
• How critical Communication is to the role of FM

One of the key areas for me was the session on Getting Clarity and Work/Life Balance: an exercise which is probably one of the biggest ways to increase the amount of time you have, by comparing everything you are doing to the to the clarity statement and to begin taking control. We also looked at Understanding Task Prioritisation: a matrix tool to reduce the common symptoms associated with poor time management and Managing Distractions: to assist in dealing with the external influences that may impact efficiency.

The 21 delegates benefited not just from the quality training, but also be working together and creating a new peer group. They agreed to keep in touch as a group, to support each other as they move through their careers in FM.

If you are looking for support and training to help your career progression, call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 for a free consultation by 'phone.

Click here for free downloads of reports and articles to help you manage more effectively.

What’s beekeeping got in common with FM?

2008-12-04T01:28:00.000-08:00

I was asked recently, by a former colleague, if I would facilitate a strategy weekend for him. Bee Craft is a publication for beekeepers and is the official journal of BBKA, the British BeeKeepers’ Association. Did you know that 2,500 people start beekeeping every year in the UK? You’d be amazed what type of person gets into beekeeping – it’s certainly not the stereotypical grey-haired, bearded gent – these days it’s young professionals who care about their environment, are concerned about the disappearance of bee colonies, and want to produce their own honey.

How much did I know about beekeeping? Enough to put on the back of a postage stamp! However, the skills of facilitation is about being a guide for people, and helping them reach conclusions, and that I can do really well!

The aims of the weekend were clear; where would Bee Craft be in 2012 and how would we get there. Much of the weekend was based around marketing, products and advertising. I started by asking everyone to share their expectations for the weekend, then I led various workgroups based around these questions:

What is the market for this publication?

About our customers
• What are we already doing well? What is the evidence to support his?
• What different kinds of information can be gathered about existing and potential customers?
• What are the different ways of collecting this information?
• What are the most effective ways of gathering this information?
• What are the problems in collecting the data?
• What is the best way to project the strongest message from us while getting the customer information?
• What are the best ways to present and use the data?

We analysed the competition – what is their market, what is their circulation, price and offering.

We looked at who can help us, and realised just how many personal contacts the group already had!

What do we actually offer? Who are we? Does that tally with what our existing and potential customers want?

As a group we then considered all the risks associated with the brand, marketplace, environment and resources, and started a risk register.

So, not so different from FM really – know what we are offering; understand our customers, keep asking them what they want and how we are doing; understand the competition; understand the risks.

If you are looking for an expert facilitator to run your next FM event, give Liz Kentish The FM Coach a call on 01778 561326 or e-mail coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

The final word goes to one of Bee Craft’s committee members, ‘a big thank you for your contribution to a very worthwhile weekend and for your enthusiasm’.

The Number One Reason Most People Fail to Achieve Their Goals

2008-12-02T06:36:00.000-08:00

If you read through the success stories of every successful person, you will notice that they all have one thing in common, that is, they have goal in their life and they work toward that goal every single day.

Did you know that the main difference between successful people and ordinary people is in their thinking? Successful people think about what they want most of the time, while ordinary people think about what they don't want most of the time. Even if ordinary people have goals, they will never take action and make their goals come true.

And the lack of action is the number one reason most people fail to achieve their goals. Too often, many people thought that goal setting is a magic wand. All they need to do is to take out a piece of paper and write down what they want to achieve in their life. After that, they just hope that their goals will come true without doing anything.

Money will not fall from the sky and there is no free lunch in this world. If you are not doing anything to make your goals come true, you will never achieve them. With that means, after you have set your goals, you need to take massive amount of action. Action produces results. Even if there is a magic pill that once you took it will transform you into a super achiever, you will still need to take that pill and swallow it.

Remember, success is about getting things done. Goal setting is just a powerful tool that helps you to stay focused in your life and bring you to where you are heading. It is not a magic wand that will make what you want to come true without doing anything. Often, the lack of action is because of the lack of motivation.

Sometimes when you are in a motivated state, you will take a lot of action and you feel excited. However, when you are in a less motivated state, you will feel lazy and unwilling to take action. This is what causes the lack of action, and hence, fail to achieve your goals. Therefore, if you want to cure the lack of action, start from motivating yourself.

Motivation is not a skill; it is something that you must do everyday in order to keep that momentum going. Thus remember, it is what you do after you have set your goals that determine your success. So take the necessary action now and make your goals come true today.

If you are serious in achieving what you really want in your life, goal setting is the right tool for you.

Click here to contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach for help with your goal setting.

For more information about Goal Setting Activities, please visit: http://www.Goal-Setting-Activities.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shawn_Lim

3 ways to stay motivated despite movable deadlines

2008-11-28T01:32:00.000-08:00

It is important to know how to find self motivation when you are dealing with unstructured timetables and deadlines that can change from one moment to the next.

Unstructured time and changing deadlines can be very frustrating and can cause motivation to dwindle away.

Motivation can also sometimes be difficult to recover in these types of situations unless we can find a way to put more prediction in the unstructured time and changing deadlines.

Most of us find motivation somewhat easy to get when we are dealing with structured situations. Going to work is a good example of a structured situation. We get out of bed each day and go to the office or factory and put in our eight hours, sometimes not really wanting to.

But we find the inner strength and desire to do so day in and day out. The reason we do is that if we don't we don't get paid and can actually lose our jobs. The need for an income to support our families is the source that motivates us to get to work even when we don't want to.

There are many tasks in life that have unstructured time tables and changing deadlines. A simple example might be getting the house painted. If you are a working person, like most of are, you only have time to paint the house on the weekends.

However, most house painting projects are not just a one weekend event, but rather a project that can take several weekends to complete. Moreover, the deadline for completing such a project can change because of weather conditions or other events that interfere.

So how do you stay motivated to complete your painting project when time is unstructured and the deadline changes?

The thing to do is to put structure into your time. This is fairly easy to do if you:

1. Break your projects down into smaller pieces.

Taking the house painting example, rather than trying to paint the whole in a weekend, break the overall project into smaller projects.

For example, scrape the old paint away on one Saturday morning. Then the following Saturday morning apply your primer. Then the next Saturday morning paint one side and the final side on the next Saturday.

The point here is to put structure in unstructured time by breaking projects down into more time manageable pieces as it relates to your ability to complete the smaller pieces.

When you put structure in time where it was unstructured before you will find more motivation to complete the overall project as you complete the smaller ones.

2. Be flexible but do something!

Movable deadlines can be a source of frustration, discouragement, and pressure, all of which can then affect our motivation.

Deadlines move for a variety of reasons, many of which are beyond our control, like the weather interfering with getting the house painted before the party you planned to have in a few weeks.

But here again even though the rain today has prevented you from painting the house today you can do other things that you were going to do next weekend and paint the house next weekend.

3. An effective way to cope with movable deadlines is to be flexible and able to change your schedule.

Unstructured time and movable deadlines can affect our motivation. By nature we are creatures that feel more comfortable and motivated with stability and prediction in our lives.

When time is unstable and unpredictable we can become confused, frazzled and frustrated because unstructured time and movable deadlines require us to change something.

The key to staying motivated in these situations is to remain flexible at all times and adapt ourselves and schedules to meet those changes.

For help with motivation click here or call Liz Kentish on 01778 561326

Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report that reveals how to crush procrastination and sustain lasting motivation. Apply now because it is available for a limited time only at: stay motivated

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Murphy

But that's the way we've always done it!

2008-11-27T01:28:00.000-08:00

Change. This six letter word can strike fear in the hearts of many an employee. The thought of changing anything can be anxiety producing in some people. But businesses are dynamic. And for businesses to survive, they have to be flexible and they need to have the ability to react quickly. If an anti-change mentality exists within the company, the ability to remain flexible and react is reduced considerably.

Businesses and the people that inhabit them become creatures of habit and comfort. The thought of change in procedures and processes can be uncomfortable. But it is vitally important that a business remain open to change and adjust the way it goes about its business as changes in the markets it serves occur and as inefficiencies creep into the operating environment.

Because people are reluctant to change, it is important to establish a standard of change. In other words, employees should be well aware that nothing is sacred. If a process is causing problems, it will be changed to make it work better. If a particular approach to doing business isn't working as well as it used to, it will be changed. The "because we've always done it that way" excuse is not acceptable in explaining why something shouldn't be altered.

Since employees are often protective of established ways of doing things, it is sometimes difficult for them to admit that there might be a better way of accomplishing the task at hand. There is also the fear of job loss when an employee feels there will be a reduction in the amount of work required to accomplish a particular task.

To avoid an ant-change mentality, set expectations about change. Those expectations include eliminating the notion of sacred cows. Sacred cows in business can be, at best, limiting and, at worst, crippling. Sacred cows can be employees, processes, procedures, products or services, promotional approaches, office or store front location or a host of other things held near and dear to the heart of someone in the organization.

Look at current business practices with a critical eye. Ask yourself if those practices really are the best way to go about meeting your goals. If they aren't, initiate changing them. Employees will feel more comfortable about change when it is a part of the culture. When change is not feared because it is known that the business will keep up with market changes and with the times, employees will buy into the idea of change more readily and help facilitate the change process.

Don't allow employees to dictate the rate of change. Many employees will tend to slow that rate. Your job as a manager or owner is to encourage employees to identify things that need to change or to assist the employees in identifying what needs to be changed.

It's widely recognized that businesses that are adaptable and flexible stand a better chance of thriving. They can react quickly and prudently. In a culture where change is uncommon and feared, the ability to change rapidly is diminished significantly because the organization isn't accustomed to making changes as needed. In a slow-to-react culture, the business often finds itself on the outside looking in, so to speak, when it comes to taking advantage of new opportunities in the market or upticks and downturns in the economy.

Change is inherent in business. Unfortunately too many businesses are not good at recognizing when to change. And in many other cases, the people within the organization hold the business back by not wanting to change. Cast a critical eye on all facets of your business and constantly ask yourself if any of them should be changed. Ask your employees to do the same and encourage them to come forward with their ideas for change.

One word of caution is in order, however. Sometimes an owner or manager will want to change things simply for the sake of change. Adhere the old adage, "if it ain't broken, don't fix it". Certainly something that appears to be working well can often be enhanced by making some minor modifications. Evaluate whether radical change is necessary or just some simple enhancement is in order.

For help with Change in your organisation, contact Liz Kentish on 01778 561326 or coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Arringdale

5 Ways to Drastically Improve Your Resume in 10 Minutes

2008-11-14T05:33:00.000-08:00

Follow these quick and easy tips to build yourself a better
resume in under 10 minutes flat.

* Use strong, action oriented language that describes
specific skills or accomplishments.

Go through your resume from top to bottom and eliminate weak
language. Don't write "Was in charge of large graphic design
department that increased company revenues" when you can say
"Managed 12 graphic artists in major creative projects that
increased revenues by over 3 million last year."

Whenever possible, eliminate all forms of the verb "to be"
(is, are, was, am and so on), as demonstrated in the
previous example. Instead, replace them with strong action
words that paint a compelling picture.

* Add bullets.

Bullets are a great way to transform lists that would
otherwise make tedious reading in paragraph form, or that
would benefit by a cleaner layout. They make the job of
reading your resume more pleasant for the reader. A perfect
candidate for bullets is a list of accomplishments related
to a single job. For example, "Postmaster, 1998 -2003"
followed by 3 or 4 major accomplishments in bullet form.

* Write a specific, concise job description.

If the job you really want is "Director of Human Resources
at a Fortune 1000 company," say so. Don't write "Middle
management position at a large or mid-size company" or
something equally vague. That covers a lot of territory. You
need to help the company with the exact job you're looking
for find you. Put yourself in the hiring manager's shoes.
Would you call a candidate for an interview in the hopes
that she is a good match, or would you call the person whose
job description specifically indicates she wants the job?

* Don't include every single position you've ever held.

Your resume is a document designed to land you an interview,
followed by a job offer. There will be times when omitting a
position - especially if it has no relevance to the position
you are seeking, may be in your best interest. This is easy
to do where omitting short term positions or special
projects conducted as part of an ongoing job assignment will
not create an obvious "hole" in your background that you
will need to explain.

(There are ways to avoid making an employer suspicious of
resume rough spots, like gaps in experience or experience
that lacks relevance to the position you are seeking. A
professional resume writer can offer you specific advice on
ways to do so, considering your unique background.)

* Spell check.

When you're finished improving your resume, run a final
spell check. Your word processor's spell checker probably
won't contain all the acronyms and specialized industry
jargon that your resume likely contains. In that case, take
the time to manually check each flagged item to make sure
your resume is spelling error-free.

Follow these five easy tips for a better resume, fast!

For more help with your career, contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach

Copyright 2005 by Vincent Czaplyski, all rights reserved.

You may republish this article in its entirety, as long as
you include the complete signature file above without
modification.

About the Author

Copywriter and consultant Vincent Czaplyski is founder of
www.impressive-resumes.com, your online source for
professionally written "industrial strength" resumes and
cover letters guaranteed to land you an interview.

Women in FM event 13 November

2008-11-14T00:50:00.000-08:00

Last night's event, held at 6 More London, promised to be inspiring and energising - it was certainly that! Around 60 BIFM members were treated to presentations on Energised Performance, Your personal brand and the WiFM Mentoring Programme.

The theme running through the presentations is that it's definitely time to take control of your career, how others perceive you, the balance of your life (is it all work work work?!) and how you can help develop others.

Afterwards, over a glass of wine and catering provided by Over the Moon, there was the chance to network, build up contacts and compare notes. Several of those present commented that 'it was the best FM event I've ever attended'!

Our next event is on 25 November, check out the details here

For more ideas on career development, contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach

So what do you do for work?

2008-11-11T03:18:00.000-08:00

I remember being asked this question a lot when I was dissatisfied with my career. My usual strategy would be to give a pat answer and immediately turn the question back on the person who asked it.

My avoidance of the question wasn't so much that I was considered unsuccessful or that my work was embarrassing, it was more about the fact that I didn't feel personally successful doing what I was doing.

I longed to be excited not evasive when asked this question. I wanted to be able to speak for more than 2 seconds before I turned the question back on my inquisitor.

What do you do when asked this question and how do you feel? If you find yourself avoiding and not feeling all that great about your answer, it's time to change your answer and here's a simple way to get started...

Ask yourself this: "What do I REALLY want to say when someone says, "So what do you do for work?""

What's the first thing that comes to mind?
What about it is appealing to you?
What other things come to mind?
How do feel thinking about it?

If you feel good, then you are on the right track!

Now if you are like most, you'll immediately start thinking of all the reasons why this will never happen. What if you put all those reasons aside and just thought more about it? Try it...

What would be one thing you could do to explore how this idea might work? I bet you do a lot of projects at your current job, what would be your next steps if you were to make turning this idea into reality a project?

This may seem simple, but it is the first step to shift your attention from discomfort to possibility.

Give it a try, you really have nothing to lose and could possibly get on your way to happily answering, "So, what do you do for work?"

I trust you enjoyed this article from Doreen. Want some help with your career? Contact Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326

About the Author

Doreen Banaszak is a career coach, teacher & founder of the "90-Day Get Your Career UnSlumped Challenge". Where do you want to be in 90 days? Register today to receive your free "GetUnSlumped Welcome Package" including an e-workbook, free tele-workshop and complementary coaching consultation. Register at www.getunslumped.com

The Pioneers

2008-11-10T07:01:00.000-08:00

FM World last week revealed the names of the pioneers of the facilities management sector. The winners have helped to create and steer the industry and have had a major impact on its development over the past 30 years.

I wonder who you would consider pioneers, not just in industry, but in general?
Richard Branson? Anita Roddick? Barack Obama? Michael Dell? Bill Gates? Tony Robbins? Deepak Chopra? Dalai Lama? Lance Armstrong? Steve Jobs?

What does pioneer mean? It's 'a person who is among those who first enter or settle a region, thus opening it for occupation and development by others', 'one who is first or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or progress: pioneers in cancer research' and 'one of a group of foot soldiers detailed to make roads, dig intrenchments, etc., in advance of the main body'.

As it's 11 November tomorrow, let's remember those who fought so that we could have peace. They may not have been pioneers in the true sense of the word, often just following orders, but to me they led the way.

www.lizkentishcoaching.co.uk
The FM Coach

A week in the media

2008-10-23T03:25:00.000-07:00

This week has been all about the published word. At the start of the week I was asked by BIFM to peer review the new Good Practice Guide to to Implementing a Sustainability Policy, and as a member of the Sustainability Committee, I was delighted to assist.

Yesterday's FM World quoted me talking about Etiquette in open plan offices - a fascinating topic and one which I'm sure we'll hear more about as budgets get squeezed and FMs are asked to save space costs.

Today's Daily Telegraph has an interesting four-page career supplement on FM - for once the media seem to approach FM as a seriously sector with much to offer the new entrant.

On Wednesday I was representing the Best Practice Club (www.bpclub.com) at their Internal Communications workshop hosted by DVLA - a day full of valuable advice from the many companies represented, and an opportunity to participate in discussion groups around market segmentation, measurement, engaging line managers and other ways to communicate.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Liz

www.lizkentishcoaching.co.uk